Estimation of mercury-sulfide speciation in sediment pore waters using octanol—water partitioning and implications for availability to methylating bacteria

Abstract

The octanol-water partioning of inorganic mercury decreased with increasing sulfide, supporting a model that predicts decreased fractions of neutral Hg-S species with increasing sulfide. These results help explain the decreased availability of Hg to methylating bacteria under sulfidic conditions, and the inverse relationship between sulfide and methylmercury observed in sediments.