Mercury in Soils of the Southern West Siberia

The paper reports data on mercury abundance in soils of of Southern West Siberia. The natural geochemical background of mercury in soils for the territories without natural anomalies estimated over upper horizons, is 45±3 ppb (background range is from 14 to 73 ppb). The presence of technogenic constituent of geochemical background is least within Altai Territory and is considerably higher in the Novosibirsk and Kemerovo regions. The levels of mercury contents in soils from nearly background to abnormally high values are in direct dependence on their concentrations in soil-forming rocks. In the domain of background values it is shaded by various natural processes, atmospheric falls included.