The Provenance of Arsenic in Southeast Asia Discovered by Trace Elements in Groundwater from the Lowlands of Nepal

Abstract

Arsenic concentrations in groundwater extracted from quaternary alluvial sediments pose a serious health issue for inhabitants living in several countries in Southeast Asia. A widely approved hypothesis states that reductive dissolution of Fe-bearing minerals releases As oxyanions to ground water and the original source of As has to be located in mafic rocks occurring across the entire Himalayan belt. Yet, recent trace element analyses of ground water from the lowlands (Terai) of Nepal show a clear decoupling of As and Fe. The positive correlation of K, Na, and trace elements like Li, B, and Mo with arsenic points out to clay minerals hosting the toxic element. This pattern of trace elements found in the ground water of the Terai also advocates against an original source of As in mafic rocks. The lithophile elements like Li, B, P, Br, Sr, and U reflect trace element composition typical for felsic rocks as an origin of As. All the mentioned elements are components of clay minerals found ubiquitously in some of the most characteristic felsic rocks of the Nepal Himalaya: metapelites and leucogranites—all these rocks exhibiting a high abundance of especially B, P, and As besides Cd and Pb.