Estimation of mercury-sulfide speciation in sediment pore waters using octanol--water partitioning and implications for availabiity to methylating bacteria

The octanol-water partioning of inorganic mercury decreased with increasing sulfide, supporting a model that predicts decreased fractionsof neutral Hg-S species with increasing sulfide. These results help explain the decreased availability of Hg to methylating bacteria under sulfidic conditions, and the inverse relationship between sulfide and methylmercury observed in sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]