Sedimentary host phases of mercury (Hg) and implications for use of Hg as a volcanic proxy

Mercury (Hg) concentration enrichments have become a widely used proxy for volcanic inputs to sediments, especially for investigation of ancient large igneous province (LIP) eruptions. Its application for this purpose requires normalization to an element representing the dominant host phase of Hg–generally total organic carbon (TOC) for the organic fraction, but occasionally total sulfur (TS) or aluminum (Al) for the sulfide or clay fractions,...