Mercury in Coals and Soils from Coal-Mining Regions

The article reviews data on the mercury concentrations in coals of the South of Kuznetsk basin (Kuzbas) in Kemerovo region in Russia and in the surrounding soils. The Hg concentrations in the soil (30 samples) and coal (207 samples) were determined by the atomic absorption using RA-915+ mercury analyzer with pyrolytic attachment. The comparison with previous research showed that over the last 25 years the mean Hg concentration in the soils decreased by a factor of 2.8. Based on the dominating contribution of the coal dust and coal combustion products into the total Hg influx in the environment, it is possible to predict increase of the Hg background level in the city and the surrounding area along with the coal production growth in the area without using modern effective dust suppression.