Ground water contaminated

by arsenic in western
Bengal basin, West Bengal,
India
Anusha Balangoda

NDSU Geol 628 Geochemistry

2010
 Overview
 Introduction
 Previous study

 Hypothesis

 Results

 Discussion

 References
 Introduction
Arsenic (As)
 20th in abundance in the earth’s crust .

 Associated with igneous and sedimentary

rocks.

 Inorganic species are highly toxic,

organic species are less toxic.

 Cause severe health effects(arsenical

dermatitis, deformation of limbs,
circulatory and respiratory problems, and
cancers ).

 WHO drinking water safe limit for As is

10µg/L .
(Cullen and Reimer, 1989; Ascar et al., 2008;
Mukherjee and Fryar, 2008; Zheng et al., 2004)
 Introduction
Arsenic speciation and Redox
potential

o Arsenite - [H3AsO3; As3+]- Anoxic

o Arsenate-[H2AsO4-, HAsO42-, and As5+ ]-
Oxic
o Redox potential is determined from the
concentration of oxidants(O2,NO3-, Mn4+).
o Reductants include various organic (Delaune and Reddy, 2005)
substrates and reduced inorganic compounds.
 The previous study
Study area

 Main aquifer
(deepens from a maximum of 50-
80-m below ground level in the
north to 180 to > 200m below
ground level in the south)
 Smaller, isolated aquifers
(200-300 m below ground level)

(Mukherjee and Fryar, 2008)

 The previous study

 Focused on characterization and geochemical modeling of the deeper water

chemistry of the western Bengal basin

 Ca2+ and HCO3- - Main aquifer

 Na+ and Cl- - Isolated aquifer
 Divided into 7 hydrochemical facies
 Chemically distinctive water bodies near to the Bay of Bengal
 Stability diagrams- equilibrium with kaolinite; Feldspars are unstable

 Models designed to evaluate carbonate weathering; cation exchange; C

cycling; and S cycling to determine gross hydrochemistry of the western
Bengal aquifers.
 The previous study

 Different pathways of chemical evolution- mixing with sea water

 Redox potentials – depth dependent-Fe, S, and C cycling

 PHREEQC and MINTEQ for

 SI,
 Minimal reaction-path(inverse) models,
 Mass-balanced models for flow and reactions with mixing and without mixing
between rivers and/or wells
 Hypothesis

 Availability of As depend on redox potential

 Methodology
Geochemical modeling
PHREEQ with WATEQ4F database
 Results
Table 1 Table 2

  

Figure 1
 Results
Table 3: Variation of redox potential and saturation index
             

  pe -4.89 6.52 6.52 6.52

  Ba (ppm) 0.14 0.14 0.0002 0.0001

SI Ba3(AsO4)2 -7.97 8.77 0.26 -0.64

           
 Results
 Mixing –(oxidized main aquifer + Reduced isolated
aquifer)

Phase Main Isolated Mixed

  SI SI SI

  pe 2.6569 pe -0.016 pe 1.077

Ba3(AsO4)2 8.76    8.57

FeOOH 7.03 5.64 6.81

FeCO3 -2.71 -2.35 -2.27

 Discussion
 A series of redox changes involving Fe-oxyhydroxide and subsequent oxidation
could be key controls of As concentrations in ground water under reduced conditions
which As enriched with elevated Fe concentrations; and

 Barium could be the key control of As concentrations in ground water under oxidized
conditions.
 References
 Ascar, L., Ahumada, I. and Richter, P., 2008. Influence of redox potential (Eh) on the
availability of arsenic species in soils and soils amended with biosolid: Chemosphere, v.
72, p. 1548-1552.

 Cullen, W.R. and Reimer, K.J., 1989. Arsenic speciation in the environment: Chem. Rev,
v.89, p. 713-764.

 Delaune, R.D. and Reddy, K.R., 2005. Redox Potential: Elsevier Ltd.

 Mukherjee, A. and Fryar, A.E., 2008. Deeper groundwater chemistry and geochemical
modeling of the arsenic affected western Bengal basin, West Bengal, India: Applied
Geochemistry, v. 23, p. 863-894.

 Seyler, P. and Martin, J. M., 1989. Biogeochemical Processes Affecting Arsenic Species
Distribution in a Permanently Stratified Lake: Environmental Science Technology, v. 23, p.
1258-1263.

 Zheng, Y., Stute, M., Geen, A.V., Gavrieli, I., Dhar, R., Simpson, H.J., Schlosser, P. and
Ahmed, K.M., 2004. Redox control of arsenic mobilization in Bangladesh ground water:
Applied Geochemistry, v. 19, p. 201-214.