Abstract: Since the Industrial Revolution, global pollution of anthropogenic mercury has been worsening, with serious harms to health due to its carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and mutagenicity. Due to the highly concentrated industrial development and population density, a large amount of industrial and mining waste gas, waste water and domestic sewage from chemical industry, steel industry, oil refining, and other industries are discharged into the Yangtze River Basin. To reveal the current situation of mercury pollution in the Yangtze River Basin and its research advances, we summarized recent achievements on the biogeochemical behavior of mercury in the Yangtze River Basin, and discussed the concentration, form, distribution and pollution sources of mercury in different environmental media of atmosphere, water, sediment, aquatic organisms, soil and plants. Subsequently, the geochemical behavior and source analysis of nontraditional mercury isotopes is introduced, and the outlook of the future research is prospected. This review would provide basic data and references for the research and control of mercury pollution in the Yangtze River Basin.

Key words: mercury, biogeochemistry, isotope, Yangtze River Basin.