Gaseous mercury sampling conditions were optimized and a dynamic flux chamber was used to measure the air/surface exchange of mercury in some areas of the Negro river basin with different vegetal coverings. At the two forest sites (flooding and non-flooding), low mercury fluxes were observed: maximum of 3 pmol m-2 h-1 - day and minimum of -1 pmol m-2 h-1 - night. At the deforested site, the mercury fluxes were higher and always positive: maximum of 26 pmol m-2 h-1 - day and 17 pmol m-2 h-1 - night. Our results showed that deforestation could be responsible for significantly increasing soil Hg emissions, mainly because of the high soil temperatures reached at deforested sites.
mercury fluxes; atmosphere-soil exchange; flux chamber
