Increasing mercury isotope ratios from pre-industrial (1510–1850) to present-day (1990–2014) in lake sediment cores have been suggested to be a global phenomenon. To assess factors leading to spatiotemporal changes, we compiled mercury concentration (THg) and mercury isotope ratios in 22 lake sediment cores located at various regions of the world. We find that the positive δ²⁰²Hg shifts together with THg increases from pre-industrial to present-day are a widespread phenomenon. This is caused by increased contribution of mercury from local to regional anthropogenic mercury emission sources, which lead to higher sediment δ²⁰²Hg (−1.07 ± 0.69‰, 1 SD) than pre-industrial sediments (−1.55 ± 0.96‰, 1 SD). The positive Δ¹⁹⁹Hg shifts were observed in 15 lake sediment cores, which have low pre-industrial Δ¹⁹⁹Hg (−0.20 ± 0.32‰) compared to the sediment cores with near-zero to positive pre-industrial Δ¹⁹⁹Hg (0.08 ± 0.07‰). The magnitudes of δ²⁰²Hg (r² = 0.09) and Δ¹⁹⁹Hg (r² = 0.20, both p > 0.05) changes from pre-industrial to present-day did not correlate with the magnitude of THg changes. Instead, the magnitudes of δ²⁰²Hg and Δ¹⁹⁹Hg changes decreased with increasing pre-industrial δ²⁰²Hg and Δ¹⁹⁹Hg values, suggesting that the baseline mercury isotope ratios play a more important role in determining the magnitude of mercury isotope changes compared to the degree of THg input. We suggest that the spatiotemporal assessments of δ²⁰²Hg in lake sediment cores can be used as an important proxy for monitoring changes in anthropogenic mercury sources for the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

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湖泊沉积物核中汞同位素基线的时空特征和人为影响

从工业化前（1510-1850 年）到现在（1990-2014 年），湖泊沉积物核中汞同位素比率的增加被认为是一种全球现象。为了评估导致时空变化的因素，我们编制了位于世界不同地区的 22 个湖泊沉积物核心的汞浓度 (THg) 和汞同位素比率。我们发现，从工业化前到今天，δ ²⁰² Hg的正变化以及 THg 的增加是一种普遍现象。这是由于从地方到区域人为汞排放源的汞贡献增加导致沉积物 δ ²⁰² Hg (-1.07 ± 0.69‰, 1 SD) 高于工业化前沉积物 (-1.55 ± 0.96‰, 1 SD) . 正 Δ ¹⁹⁹在 15 个湖泊沉积物芯中观察到 Hg 变化，与工业化前 Δ ¹⁹⁹ Hg (0.08 ± 0.07‰)接近零至正值的沉积物芯相比，工业化前 Δ ¹⁹⁹ Hg (-0.20 ± 0.32‰)较低。δ ²⁰² Hg ( r ²  = 0.09) 和 Δ ¹⁹⁹ Hg ( r ²  = 0.20, p  > 0.05) 从工业化前到今天的变化与 THg 变化的幅度无关。相反，δ ²⁰² Hg 和 Δ ¹⁹⁹ Hg 变化的幅度随着工业化前 δ ²⁰² Hg 和 Δ ^{199 的}增加而降低Hg 值，表明与 THg 输入的程度相比，基线汞同位素比率在确定汞同位素变化的幅度方面起着更重要的作用。我们建议，湖泊沉积物核心中 δ ²⁰² Hg的时空评估可用作监测《水俣汞公约》中人为汞源变化的重要代表。