Diurnal variability and biogeochemical reactivity of mercury species in an extreme high-altitude lake ecosystem of the Bolivian Altiplano

Lucia Alanoca (1) , David Amouroux (2) , Mathilde Monperrus (2) , Emmanuel Tessier (2) , Maria Goni (2) , Remy Guyoneaud (2) , Dario C. Acha (1) , Claire Gassie (2) , Stéphane Audry (3) , Maria Eugenia Garcia (4) , J Quintanilla (4) , David Point (1)

1 LCA - Laboratorio de Calidad Ambiental
2 IPREM - Institut des sciences analytiques et de physico-chimie pour l'environnement et les materiaux
3 GET - Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
4 Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas - Laboratorio de Hidroquímica

Abstr act Methylation and demethylation represent major transformation pathways regulating the net production of methylmercury (MMHg). Very few studies have documented Hg reactivity and transformation in extreme high-altitude lake ecosystems. Mercury (Hg) species concentrations (IHg, MMHg, Hg°, and DMHg) and in situ Hg methylation (M) and MMHg demethylation (D) potentials were determined in water, sediment, floating organic aggregates, and periphyton compartments of a shallow productive Lake of the Bolivian Altiplano (Uru Uru Lake, 3686 m). Samples were collected during late dry season (October 2010) and late wet season (May 2011) at a north (NS) and a south (SS) site of the lake, respectively. Mercury species concentrations exhibited significant diurnal variability as influenced by the strong diurnal biogeochemical gradients. Particularly high methylated mercury concentrations (0.2 to 4.5 ng L −1 for MMHg T) were determined in the water column evidencing important Hg methylation in this ecosystem. Methylation and D potentials range were, respectively, <0.1–16.5 and <0.2–68.3 % day −1 and were highly variable among compartments of the lake, but always higher during the dry season. Net Hg M indicates that the influence of urban and mining effluent (NS) promotes MMHg pro duction in both water (up to 0.45 ng MMHg L −1 day −1) and sediment compartments (2.0 to 19.7 ng MMHg g −1 day −1). While the sediment compartment appears to represent a major source of MMHg in this shallow ecosystem, floating organic aggregates (dry season, SS) and Totora's periphyton (wet season, NS) were found to act as a significant source (5.8 ng MMHg g −1 day −1) and a sink (−2.1 ng MMHg g −1 day −1) of MMHg, respectively. This work demonstrates that high-altitude productive lake ecosystems can promote MMHg formation in various compartments supporting recent observations of high Hg contents in fish and water birds.

Mots clés: Demethylation; Altiplano; Biogeochemistry; Bolivia; Lake; Mercury; Methylation

Domaines: Chimie; Chimie analytique

Lucia Alanoca, David Amouroux, Mathilde Monperrus, Emmanuel Tessier, Maria Goni, et al.. Diurnal variability and biogeochemical reactivity of mercury species in an extreme high-altitude lake ecosystem of the Bolivian Altiplano. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2016, Environ Sci Pollut Res, 23, pp.6919-6933. ⟨10.1007/s11356-015-5917-1⟩. ⟨hal-01439880⟩