New research from Florida State University shows that concentrations of the toxic element mercury in rivers and fjords connected to the Greenland Ice Sheet are comparable to rivers in industrial China. Credit: Jade Hatton/University of Bristol. Read Time: New research shows that concentrations of the toxic element mercury in rivers and fjords connected to the Greenland Ice Sheet are comparable to rivers in industrial China, an unexpected finding that is raising questions about the effects of glacial melting in an area that is a major exporter of seafood. âThere are surprisingly high levels of mercury in the glacier meltwaters we sampled in southwest Greenland,â said Jon Hawkings, a postdoctoral researcher at Florida State University and and the German Research Centre for Geosciences. âAnd thatâs leading us to look now at a whole host of other questions such as how that mercury could potentially get into the food chain.â