Eliot Ruiz, Thomas Lacoue-Labarthe, Carine Churlaud, Maud Brault-Favrou, Pierre-Yves Pascal
{"title":"Mercury Accumulation and Transfer in Hydrothermal Coastal Environment: The Case of the Geothermal Plant of Bouillante","authors":"Eliot Ruiz, Thomas Lacoue-Labarthe, Carine Churlaud, Maud Brault-Favrou, Pierre-Yves Pascal","doi":"10.1007/s00244-024-01082-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Geothermal vents can constitute local significant sources of mercury (Hg) in the environment. The geothermal power plant of Bouillante (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles) artificially enhances the release of hydrothermal water in shallow areas of the bay. To assess the impact of this release on the Hg transfer in the environment, Hg concentrations were assessed in sediments, sulphur-oxidising bacteria and six animal species (urchin, sponges and fish) with various diets and trophic levels from the Bouillante Bay and a distant Control Site. Concentrations of Hg in all samples from Bouillante were greater than those from the Control Site (2–627 times higher). A comparison with the Hg concentrations reported in the literature for similar sample types reveals that they are abnormally high in most Bouillante samples suggesting a local Hg contamination imputable to the release of Hg hydrothermal water. Rocky pebbles of the shallow discharge channel are covered by a mat of sulphur-oxidising bacteria presenting high concentration of Hg (13 µg g<sup>−1</sup>). Through analysis of species with various diet, two pathways of Hg integration into Bouillante’s food webs were emphasised. First, greater Hg concentrations in filter feeders (sponges ×3 and bivalves ×10) not consuming bacterial mats and liver/muscle ratios in fishes suggest that discharge waters enhance the exposure of marine organisms to dissolved inorganic Hg (i.e., waterborne pathway). Second, greater Hg concentrations in opportunistic animals such as the fish <i>Acanthurus bahianus</i> (×49) and the sea urchin <i>Diadema antillarum</i> (×50) known to ingest sulphur-bacterial mats from the discharge channel suggest that these chemosynthetic bacteria play a role in the integration (i.e., dietary pathway) and transfer of Hg in local biota, which enlightens the consideration of vent fields as natural sources of Hg.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8377,"journal":{"name":"Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00244-024-01082-w","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Geothermal vents can constitute local significant sources of mercury (Hg) in the environment. The geothermal power plant of Bouillante (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles) artificially enhances the release of hydrothermal water in shallow areas of the bay. To assess the impact of this release on the Hg transfer in the environment, Hg concentrations were assessed in sediments, sulphur-oxidising bacteria and six animal species (urchin, sponges and fish) with various diets and trophic levels from the Bouillante Bay and a distant Control Site. Concentrations of Hg in all samples from Bouillante were greater than those from the Control Site (2–627 times higher). A comparison with the Hg concentrations reported in the literature for similar sample types reveals that they are abnormally high in most Bouillante samples suggesting a local Hg contamination imputable to the release of Hg hydrothermal water. Rocky pebbles of the shallow discharge channel are covered by a mat of sulphur-oxidising bacteria presenting high concentration of Hg (13 µg g−1). Through analysis of species with various diet, two pathways of Hg integration into Bouillante’s food webs were emphasised. First, greater Hg concentrations in filter feeders (sponges ×3 and bivalves ×10) not consuming bacterial mats and liver/muscle ratios in fishes suggest that discharge waters enhance the exposure of marine organisms to dissolved inorganic Hg (i.e., waterborne pathway). Second, greater Hg concentrations in opportunistic animals such as the fish Acanthurus bahianus (×49) and the sea urchin Diadema antillarum (×50) known to ingest sulphur-bacterial mats from the discharge channel suggest that these chemosynthetic bacteria play a role in the integration (i.e., dietary pathway) and transfer of Hg in local biota, which enlightens the consideration of vent fields as natural sources of Hg.
期刊介绍:
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology provides a place for the publication of timely, detailed, and definitive scientific studies pertaining to the source, transport, fate and / or effects of contaminants in the environment. The journal will consider submissions dealing with new analytical and toxicological techniques that advance our understanding of the source, transport, fate and / or effects of contaminants in the environment. AECT will now consider mini-reviews (where length including references is less than 5,000 words), which highlight case studies, a geographic topic of interest, or a timely subject of debate. AECT will also consider Special Issues on subjects of broad interest. The journal strongly encourages authors to ensure that their submission places a strong emphasis on ecosystem processes; submissions limited to technical aspects of such areas as toxicity testing for single chemicals, wastewater effluent characterization, human occupation exposure, or agricultural phytotoxicity are unlikely to be considered.