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Variations of mercury in soils in the northern segment of Zemuhe fault zone, southwestern China

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Abstract

The characteristics of mercury (Hg) emissions from the fault zone can be used to understand the fault activity and evaluate the impact of emissions on the environment. Here, the distribution of soil Hg was investigated at the Daqingliangzi (DQL) site within the active Zemuhe fault zone in Sichuan, China. Total mercury in soil (THg) and total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations were analyzed at depths of 0–80 cm at 11 sampling sites. The THg concentrations showed large variations, ranging from 18 to 123 ng/g, with the higher values (94–113 ng/g) occurring within the fault plane profile. A positive correlation was observed between the THg and TOC concentrations. These correlations indicated that the enrichment of Hg most likely resulted from adsorption onto organic matter. The Hg migration and accumulation in the fault zone was related to the fault structure, and the Hg enrichment was mainly driven by natural emissions from the fault. This result could be useful in future studies of fault emission processes at the Earth’s surface.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Runsheng Yin of the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, for his helpful suggestions. We also thank Yuxiu Li for assistance with the sample analyses. We are particularly grateful to the reviewers’ comments, which improved the quality of the manuscripts. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41703009) and National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1503806).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing, 100085, China

    Lei Zhang, Lishuang Guo & Yaowei Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Crustal Dynamics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100085, China

    Lei Zhang, Lishuang Guo & Yaowei Liu

  3. College of Ocean and Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China

    Chuang Bao

  4. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Chuang Bao

  5. Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Deyang Shi

  6. School of Geographical Sciences, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China

    Liling Zhao

  7. Xichang Seismic Monitoring Central Station, Sichuan Earthquake Agency, Xichang, 615000, China

    Guangrong Chen

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  1. Lei Zhang
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Zhang, L., Bao, C., Guo, L. et al. Variations of mercury in soils in the northern segment of Zemuhe fault zone, southwestern China. Environ Earth Sci 80, 798 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-10091-0

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