The Use of Dendrochemistry to Analyze Spatial and Temporal Mercury Trends in the Southeastern Appalachian Mountains
Fisher LS, Burnett TA, Levin L, Hart JL. 2007. The Use of Dendrochemistry to Analyze Spatial and Temporal Mercury Trends in the Southeastern Appalachian Mountains. National Park Service
ABSTRACT: The annual rings of trees may act as paleoenvironmental records of past chemical exposures. While historical data on heavy metals in tree rings have been successful near point sources, little data exist for mercury in tree rings. Tree cores from a variety of hardwoods and conifer species and soil samples were collected from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia, USA between 670 and 2025 meters in elevation to investigate the use of tree-ring signatures for historical mercury concentrations. Both sampling locations showed increases in the average concentration of mercury in 1910-20 and beginning in 1940 before declining after 1970. The average mercury concentration from both study sites was 1.84 ng g-1, considered background level from published data. Based on the results from our sampling, intra-species concentrations had more variance than inter-species, suggesting site and soil parameters had more of an influence on uptake.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Fisher, L; Burnett, Tom; Levin, Leonard; Hart, Justin
- Date of Issue
- 2007-11-26
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM, GRSM-00327, mercury, SER, Southeast Region