Book Description

Many heavy metals are recognized as toxic to aquatic life in minute concentrations. Small amounts of these metals may be bioaccumulated up the food chain, throughout which they can cause disorder and death. Mercury is such a potentially harmful heavy metal and methyl mercury (MeHg), an organic species of mercury, has been found in relatively high levels in fish and invertebrates throughout the world. To effectively evaluate both the potential for harmful bioaccumulation and proposed measures to mitigate that harm, the spatial and temporal distribution of heavy metals within an aquatic system must be characterized. This dissertation provides background on mercury in the environment, reviews numerical models of mercury transport and speciation, and describes the construction and application of a numerical model, RMA4Hg, representing mercury transport and transformation in the aquatic environment.