ABSTRACT

Mercury contents of 19 soils, 13 lake and pond sediments, 8 epibenthic algae (mostly blue-green algae) and 3 mosses (mostly Sarconeurum glaciale) from the dry valleys of Victoria Land and Ross Island in the Antarctic ranged from 3.0 to 54 μg kg^-1 with an average of 14 ± 5.1 at 90% confidence limits, from 2.4 to 71 with an average of 17 ± 10, from 12 to 710 with an average of 190 ± 160 and from 99 to 290 with an average of 170 ± 180 μg kg^-1 dry base, respectively. It was indicated that epibenthic algae and mosses accumulate mercury. The correlation coefficient between total organic carbon and mercury contents for all the samples studied was found to be +0.69, indicating that total organic carbon contents are an important factor controlling the distribution of mercury in soils, sediments and organisms in the Antarctic dry valley areas.