[Influence of Marine Aquaculture Around Coal Power Plant on Mercury Species Change in Auuatic Ecological Environment].

To investigate the influence of marine aquaculture around coal power plant on Hg species change in aquatic ecological environment, the fish farming area in Xiangshan Harbor, Zhejiang province, was studied. The concentrations of different Hg species in sea water collected from marine aquaculture sites (MS) and references sites (RS) were measured. The result showed that the total mercury (THg) concentration in the surface water reached 83.0 pmol x L(-1) +/- 97.1 pmol x L(-1). Dissolved Hg (DHg) in pore water of core sediment decreased with the increasing depth. Meanwhile, the DHg content in pore water above 10 cm was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than that below 10 cm, which confirmed the influence of coal-fired power plants on the surrounding areas. THg concentration in MS (96.5 pmol x L(-1) +/- 133 pmol x L(-1)) was higher than that in RS (69.5 pmol x L(-1) +/- 39.4 pmol x L(-1)), which was mainly resulted from the accumulation of sewage discharge by the employees and fish feed material in sediments during breeding that were further released to the overlying water. Methylmercury concentration in pore water of MS (24.0 pmol x L(-1) +/- 16.7 pmol x L(-1)) was also significantly higher than that in RS (6.60 pmol x L(-1) +/- 5.11 pmol x L(-1)), which demonstrated that marine aquaculture activities promoted the methylmercury production by increasing the accumulation of organic matter in sediment.