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

The octanol-water partioning of inorganic mercury decreased with increasing sulfide, supporting a model that predicts decreased fractions of neutral H g-S species with increasing sulfide. These results help explain the decreas ed availability of Hg to methylating bacteria under sulfidic conditions, an d the inverse relationship between sulfide and methylmercury observed in se diments.