Special Session- Mercury Characterization and Contaminated Site Remediation: Methods, Challenges, and Lessons Learned.
Session Cochairs- Teresa Mathews and Scott Brooks
Keynote Title- Mercury: Binding, Methylation and Demethylation
Keynote Speaker- Jeremy Smith”
Session Description: Mercury, in both its inorganic and organic forms, can negatively impact human and environmental health and exhibits complex environmental behavior. While great strides have been made in recent years towards understanding the behavior of mercury in the environment, remaining knowledge gaps present challenges to our basic and applied research efforts and may limit the effectiveness of well-intentioned remedial actions. For example, the apparent lack of response in mercury bioaccumulation in fish to decreasing mercury concentrations in water confounds remediation attempts. This session will serve as a forum to exchange information on all aspects of mercury contamination and remediation issues. We seek a diverse set of presentations that address topics including (but not limited to): mercury biogeochemistry and characterization in environmental media; characterization and modeling of mercury source areas and associated fluxes; assessment of toxicity and human and ecological health risks for mercury-contaminated media; new technologies for mercury removal or control; remediation case studies from a variety of mercury-contaminated sites. Innovative studies that couple multiple disciplines to advance our understanding and studies that employ novel analytical tools or remediation strategies are particularly desirable.
