1.1 Introduction
Mercury (Hg) is a global toxin with great health concerns, which is released to ecosystem from both natural and anthropogenic sources (Dai et al. 2013; Niane et al. 2015). Natural sources are weathering and erosion of metallic Hg and sulfide ores like cinnabar HgS and anthropogenic sources include mining, industries and agriculture activities (Pinedo-Herna´n- dez et al. 2015; Yang et al. 2015). During processes, the Hg forms amalgam with gold. Then, amalgam is heated that could escape the Hg to the atmospheric environment and deposited on various compartments like surrounding soils and aquatic ecosystems (Biber et al. 2015; Rodrigues et al. 2014).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
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