Exponent Webinar Series

What's New with Mercury in the Environment

The amount of research on the behavior and environmental effects of mercury has increased tremendously since the first discovery in 1970 of elevated mercury concentrations in fish in the United States. By the early 1990s, analytical methods for detection of sufficiently low levels of mercury in water were being employed to study the behavior of inorganic mercury and methylmercury in contaminated and uncontaminated environments.

More recently, new analytical techniques for stable isotopes of mercury and nanoparticles have helped to elucidate the fate of mercury in the environment. With these analytical tools, new insight is emerging on methylation of mercury and the complex interactions of mercury with other compounds in the environment.
   
At the recent 10th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, researchers reported on advances such as these in key areas including mercury biogeochemistry, ecotoxicology, and health effects. Because research is rapidly evolving, these current findings are critical to proper assessment of mercury sources to the environment as well as the investigation and regulation of mercury-contaminated sites.

Gary Bigham, Betsy Henry, and Karen Murray will summarize the current state-of-the-science and point out promising new developments in our understanding of mercury in the environment. 

This presentation will discuss:

• Mercury methylation and bioaccumulation
• Mercury-selenium interaction
• Developments in remediation approaches at contaminated sites
• New environmental forensic applications of mercury stable isotope analysis to help resolve the contributing sources of mercury to water, sediment, fish, and wildlife.

WHEN

Wednesday, September 28, 2011
10:30 am PDT / 1:30 pm EDT

PRESENTERS

Gary N. Bigham, L.G.
Principal Scientist

Betsy Henry, Ph.D.
Senior Managing Scientist

Karen J. Murray, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist

PLAYBACK

Click to playback a recording of this webinar.

CLE

This webinar is approved for 1.0 CLE credit by the State Bar of California. All attendees will receive a certificate of attendance to use for individual applications to other states.