Mercury in soil, vegetation, and organisms across Niwot Ridge, Saddle Catchment, and Green Lakes Valley, 2020 - ongoing.

Mercury (Hg) is a geologically sourced element whose cycle has been perturbed by human activities including mining and fossil fuel combustion. Today, Hg cycles through the environment at levels three-fold higher than the pre-Industrial period. Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to these increases because they receive high rates of atmospheric deposition and contain saturated regions on the landscape that can transform Hg to methylmercury (MeHg), a more toxic, bioavailable form. This research addressing this knowledge gap by investigating the spatial and temporal patterns of Hg storage and transformation, the mobilization of Hg into the surrounding food web, and the net source / sink characteristics of the alpine ecosystems at Niwot Ridge. Specifically, this dataset includes measurements of soil, vegetation, water, atmospheric deposition, and organism data from the Niwot Ridge, Saddle Catchment, and Green Lakes Valley that were collected to investigate the storage, transformation, and mobilization of mercury in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.