US EPA Method 3200: Mercury Species Fractionation and Quantification by Microwave Assisted Extraction, Selective Solvent Extraction and/or Solid Phase Extraction
1.1 This method contains a sequential extraction and separation procedure that may
be used in conjunction with a determinative method to differentiate mercury species that are present in soils and sediments. This method provides information on both total mercury and various mercury species.
1.2 The speciation of a metal, in this case mercury, involves determining the actual
form of the molecules or ions that are present in the sample. When combined with an
appropriate determinative method, this procedure is designed to provide varying degrees of mercury species information. All metal speciation methods are operationally defined by the level of post-extraction processing and the chosen method of analysis. Examples of the operationally-defined mercury fractions and individual species that may be determined using this procedure are presented in the table below.
