Abstract
Two major areas of the midcontinent region were investigated for their aqueous mercury concentrations. Sixteen surface water and 17 ground water samples were collected in an eleven county area of N.W. Arkansas, S.W. Missouri and N.E. Oklahoma (Ozark area) and analyzed for total dissolved mercury by the flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. The range (<0.2 to 0.8 ppb), the mean (0.4 ppb) and the median (0.4 ppb) are the same for both ground water and surface water. Values obtained for the Ozark area are slightly greater than those reported for surface water by others (about 0.1 ppb), but are well within the range reported for surface waters (0.1 to 17.0 ppb). The range for 102 ground water samples from the Ouachita Mountain area is <0.1 to 2.3 ppb, the mean 0.3 ppb and the median 0.1 ppb. Thus, the mercury values for this area are similar to those of the Ozark area except fora higher upper range. The mercury mineralization (cinnabar) in the southern part of the Ouachita Mountain area, in part, is the cause of the higher values. Only two samples (2.1 and 2.3 ppb), both from the Ouachita Mountain area, exceed the EPA drinking water limits of 2 ppb mercury in the western Arkansas region.
Recommended Citation
Barber, Larry II and Steele, Kenneth F.
(1980)
"Mercury Content of Waters in the Midcontinent Region,"
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 34, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol34/iss1/8
