First mercury determination in snow and firn from high-mountain glaciers in the Siberian Altai by CV-ICP-MS

S. Eyrikh; M. Schwikowski; H.W. Gäggeler; L. Tobler; T. Papina

doi:doi:10.1051/jp4:20030333

Issue		J. Phys. IV France Volume 107, May 2003


Page(s)		431 - 434
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/jp4:20030333

J. Phys. IV France 107 (2003) 431
DOI: 10.1051/jp4:20030333

First mercury determination in snow and firn from high-mountain glaciers in the Siberian Altai by CV-ICP-MS

S. Eyrikh¹, M. Schwikowski², H.W. Gäggeler^{2, 3}, L. Tobler² and T. Papina²

¹ Institute for Water and Environmental Problems, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 Molodezhnaya St., 656038 Barnaul, Russia
² Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Switzerland

Abstract
High-altitude mountain glaciers are well suited as palcoarchives of natural and anthropogenic emission both on a global and on local scale. Ice core records from Altai will permit to assess the present air pollution level in the Central Eurasia and to reconstmct its historical development. The Altai mountain region is especially interesting for Hg study, since it's located close to the large Hg mine in Aktash. South Siberia and to major sources of air pollution in East Kazakhstan and South Siberia. Thus, local, rogional and long-range transport is assumed to contribute to Hg contamination in this area. The potential of Cold Vapour lCP-MS using a Hydrogen Generator for Hg determination was studied. The preliminary data is the first data on Hg levels in snow and ice ever obtained for the Altai region. The lowest Hg concentration we obtained was from snow from Belukha glacier. Hg concentrations in snow from the Jungfraujoch (Swiss Alps) are comparable with those recently reported for Hg in snow from French Alps.