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Mercury Concentrations and Loads in United States and Canadian Tributaries of Lake Superior

Metadata Updated: October 28, 2025

In 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mercury Research Laboratory (MRL) conducted a large-scale assessment of mercury (Hg) concentrations and Hg stable isotope values in tributaries of Lake Superior in order to define the sources and amounts of Hg entering the lake. Water samples were collected monthly from 18 tributaries in the United States from April through October in 2021 and during 2022 spring melt (May 2022). As a complement, 10 tributaries on the Lake Superior Northshore were sampled three times a year (spring, summer, and fall) by Lakehead University and Lakehead Region Conservation Authority. Nine tributaries were also sampled twice per year (spring and summer) in Pukaskwa National Park by Parks Canada. Filtered total Hg (THg) concentrations from United States and Canadian Northshore ranged from 0.2 to 8.8 nanograms per liter (ng L-1), with a median value of 1.2 ng L-1. Unfiltered THg in Pukaskwa National Park ranged from 0.6 to 5.0 ng L-1 with a median of 3.2 ng L-1, but encompassed both the filtered and particulate bound Hg. Median methylmercury (MeHg) values were approximately 0.1 ng L-1 for both filtered and unfiltered waters, but could reach levels greater than 1 ng L-1 during higher flow events. THg and MeHg concentrations were positively correlated to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations for most tributaries. Hg loads to Lake Superior were calculated for U.S. tributaries using the R package loadflex ( http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00517.1 ), median loads for THg were 18 grams per day, but could increase to 590 grams per day under high flow and snow melt conditions.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 28, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 28, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-62b0cce4d34e74f0d80f109e
Data Last Modified 2022-09-23T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 85a06d9d-2a36-4704-96c4-271e508750d7
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -92.7686, 46.0885, -84.0000, 49.5965
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash a51f43697d0d9cb8084f23b5a9b62b747128b90b95280b9325b77f60c0b2d7f5
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -92.7686, 46.0885, -92.7686, 49.5965, -84.0000, 49.5965, -84.0000, 46.0885, -92.7686, 46.0885}

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