Rada, R. G., Findley, J. E., and Wiener, J. G., 1986, Environmental fate of mercury
discharged into the upper Wisconsin River: Water Air and Soil Pollution, v. 29, no.
1, p. 57-76.

Abstract

The authors studied the distribution of Hg in sediments, fish, and crayfish in a 60
km reach of the Upper  Wisconsin River that formerly received Hg in discharges
from pulp and paper mills. The most heavily  contaminated strata of sediments
were deposited during the 1950s and early 1960s and buried under subsequent 
deposits; however, surficial sediments remained substantially enriched at certain
sites in 1981. Median  concentrations of Hg in surficial sediments, adjusted for
grain size, were at least 10-fold greater at the main  study area than at an upstream
reference site. Total concentrations exceeded 1.0  mu g g super(-1) wet weight in 
axial muscle tissue in only 2 of 173 fish analyzed from the study area; however,
historical comparisons revealed  that Hg contamination of fish (common carp
Cyprinus carpio  and walleye Stizostedion vitreum vitreum ) and  crayfish
(Orconectes ) in the river had not decreased since the early 1970s.

Keywords:

mercury, sediments, fish, Wisconsin-River, paper-industry, industrial-effluents,
Cyprinus-carpio, Stizostedion-vitreum-vitreum, Orconectes, freshwater-organisms,
pollution-levels, freshwater-pollution, Pisces, pulp-wastes, USA, Wisconsin,
Wisconsin-R., fate