@InProceedings{FostierFoGuBoOlMeEs:1997:MaBaMe,
               author = "Fostier, A-H. and Forti, Maria Cristina and Guimaraes, J. R. and 
                         Boulet, R. and Oliveira, S. and Melfi, A. J. and Espirito Santo, 
                         Clovis",
          affiliation = "{INPE-Sao Jose dos Campos -12227-010-SP-Brasil}",
                title = "Mass Balance of Mercury in a Natural Forested Amazonian Watershed 
                         (Serra do Navio, Amapa State, Brazil)",
                 year = "1997",
                pages = "176",
         organization = "International Symposium on Ecosystem Behavior, 3. (Biogemon).",
            publisher = "Cambridge Publications",
             abstract = "High Hg levels found in the Brazilian Amazon environ- ment have 
                         been attributed mainly to gold mining activities (Nriagu. 1992; 
                         Hylander, 1994). Forest fires also have been identified as an 
                         important Hg source (Veiga, 1994). However. recently high Hg 
                         concentrations have been found in fish and human tissues in 
                         regions where there are no known anthropogenic Hg sources 
                         (Forsberg, 1994; Fostier, 1997). These facts suggest a large 
                         variation in Hg back- ground concentrations in the Amazonian 
                         region, and/or a transport of Hg throughout the Brazilian 
                         Amazonian region. In the Amazonian region, naturally acidic rain. 
                         high air humidity. high temperature and high rainfall rates can 
                         modify processes regulating Hg biogeochemistry, acceler- ating its 
                         residence time in the environment (Lacerda. 1990). At Amap{\'a} 
                         State (northeastem Brazilian Amazon) as well as in other Amazonian 
                         regions. new gold mining fields are being opened while some older 
                         ones are still operated. Ali of them extract gold manually 
                         (garimpos) from quartzite mineral deposits. using the Hg 
                         amalgamation process to concentrare gold. This process releases Hg 
                         to the atmos- phere due to careless amalgam buming in open 
                         facilities. Resulting Hg emissions contaminate the atmosphere, 
                         soils. sediments and biota in the surrounding area and over 
                         distances of kilometers (Guimar{\~a}es. 1997; Fostier. 1997). 
                         There are only scarce background measurements of Hg concentration 
                         available for the Amazonian Region (mainly soils and river 
                         sediments). and studies focused on Hg mass balance in undisturbed 
                         areas of the Amazonian environment are missing. Such studies are 
                         required for better under- standing of the Hg behaviour in this 
                         environment and for evaluating contamination risks for the 
                         regional population.",
  conference-location = "Philadelfia",
      conference-year = "21-25 jun.",
           copyholder = "SID/SCD",
                label = "self-archiving-INPE-MCTIC-GOV-BR",
             language = "en",
           targetfile = "11719.pdf",
        urlaccessdate = "01 maio 2024"
}