First mercury determination in snow and firn from high-mountain glaciers in the Siberian Altai by CV-ICP-MS

High-altitude mountain glaciers are well suited as palcoarchives of natural and anthropogenic emission both on a global and on local scale. Ice core records from Altai will permit to assess the present air pollution level in the Central Eurasia and to reconstruct its historical development. The Altai mountain region is especially interesting for Hg study, since it's located close to the large Hg mine in Aktash, South Siberia and to major sources of air pollution in East Kazakhstan and South Siberia. Thus, local, regional and long-range transport is assumed to contribute to Hg contamination in this area. The potential of Cold Vapour ICP-MS using a Hydrogen Generator for Hg determination was studied. The preliminary data is the first data on Hg levels in snow and ice ever obtained for the Altai region. The lowest Hg concentration we obtained was from snow from Belukha glacier. Hg concentrations is snow from the Jungfraujoch (Swiss Alps) are comparable with those recently reported for Hg in snow from French Alps.