Deepest ocean trenches hold vast amounts of mercury

The first-ever mercury analysis of sediments recovered from the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean has revealed them to be accumulation hotspots for the toxic element, containing up to 56 times more mercury than other deep sea areas.

Since 2017, the Minamata Convention on Mercury has been working on reducing anthropogenic mercury emissions by phasing out mercury-containing products and regulating the metal’s use in gold mining. But whether released by human activity or from natural sources, the often toxic metal ultimately ends up in soils and ocean sediments in the form of inorganic salts, organic compounds or even particle-bound and free elemental metal.