Arsenic geochemistry of the sediments of the shallow aquifer and its correlation with the groundwater, Rangpur, Bangladesh

Abstract

AbstractThe geochemical analysis of the shallow aquifer sediments of the area of investigation reveals that they are acidic in nature. The mean electrical conductivity of the deposits is 1.16 dS/m that indicates very low or negligible effects of salinity of the sediments of the Rangpur division. The median values of the concentrations of total organic carbon, total nitrogen and sulphur are 0.20%, 0.02% and 58.68 mg/kg, respectively. The trend of the average heavy metal concentrations of the investigated area can be shown as Fe > As > Cu > Zn. The average concentrations of arsenic of the sediments of the study area are 3.52 mg/kg. Sulphur is significantly, positively correlated with copper and zinc (p < 0.05) and insignificantly and positively correlated with arsenic content of the sediments that indicates that the copper and zinc occur as sulphide minerals. The mean concentrations of arsenic in the groundwater are 1.1793 μg/L. The concentration of all the water samples is below the permissible limit of World Health Organization (10 μg/L). The arsenic content of groundwater shows the positive correlations with the arsenic, iron and copper concentrations of the sediments. This implies that the arsenic of groundwater derived from the geogenic source, like the dissolution of arsenic bearing minerals of the aquifer sediments—pyrite and arsenopyrite. The acidic nature, texture and minor quantities of total organic carbon are the factors that also influence the low arsenic enrichment in the investigated sediments and its release to the groundwater. The contemporary arsenic specification research works showed that As(III) the most common species in natural water and foodstuffs and the arsenic is inorganic from source in Bangladesh.