National Geochemical Survey of Australia: Mercury Concentrations in Sediment

Published in July 2011, this dataset contains almost 2400 new total mercury analyses from the National Geochemical Survey of Australia. The analyses were performed on catchment outlet sediment samples from 1141 catchments, including samples from both 0-10 cm and 60-80 cm depths. Mercury concentration was determined using a tri-cell Direct Mercury Analyzer following USEPA method 7473.

Use Cases

• Mapping mercury concentration patterns in surface and near-surface sediments across Australia.
• Investigating relationships between mercury levels and underlying geology or anthropogenic activity.
• Establishing baseline geochemical data for environmental monitoring and risk assessment.
• Comparing mercury concentrations between top (0-10 cm) and bottom (60-80 cm) sediment layers.

Strengths

• Contains 2396 new mercury concentration analyses, providing substantial data volume.
• Includes paired samples from 1149 sites with both top and bottom outlet sediment analyzed.
• Analytical quality is documented with Standard Reference Material recoveries, such as 100.6% recovery for NIST-2706.
• Samples were collected from 1141 distinct catchments, offering broad spatial coverage.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the sampling strategy of the National Geochemical Survey.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Mercury analyses were performed on catchment outlet sediment samples using a tri-cell Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA-80) following USEPA method 7473.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-24 16:32:21.596323; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia