DISTRIBUTION OF MERCURY IN SOIL ORGANIC-MATTER FRACTIONS OBTAINED BY DISSOLUTION PRECIPITATION METHOD/

Sequential multistep procedure, usually used for the fractionation and characterization of soil organic matter was tested for Hg content in the individual steps and fractions. Under general laboratory condition s serious problems have arosen during the attempt in the Hg mass balan ce calculation. Several sources of Hg contamination were recognized. T he most serious was the background concentration of Hg even in researc h grade chemicals (what is in general not declared) and laboratory air . The work on operational Hg speciation as non-humic bound, humic acid , fulvic acid bound proceeds from the established status-quo on distri bution of mercury of soil organic matter.