Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Mineralogical Magazine Don't get GSW? Talk to your librarian.
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mineralogical Magazine; October 2005; v. 69; no. 5; p. 577-589; DOI: 10.1180/0026461056950272
© 2005 Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hutton, C.
Right arrow Articles by Stockwell, P. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Aqueous and solid-phase speciation of arsenic in Cornish soils

C. Hutton1,*, D. W. Bryce2, W. Russeau3, H. J. Glass1, L. E. T. Jenkin1, W. T. Corns2 and P. B. Stockwell2

1 Camborne School of Mines, School of Geography Archaeology and Earth Resources, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK
2 PS Analytical, Arthur House, Crayfields Industrial Estate, Main Road, Orpington, Kent BR5 3HP, UK
3 University of Greenwich, Medway Sciences, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK

* E-mail: C.Hutton{at}ex.ac.uk

Cornwall (UK) has suffered extensive arsenic contamination due to the historic mining and processing of mineral ores. Standard procedures for contaminated land risk assessment (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002a) are probably unworkable in Cornwall, with a very large number of sites classified as contaminated by arsenic. Methods of measuring the speciation and mobility of arsenic are essential for effective and rapid risk assessments of arsenic contamination.

Three clusters of lysimeters were installed in three different areas of an arsenic-contaminated Cornish site. A novel phosphoric acid microwave extraction technique was applied to the soils removed from the lysimeter holes; HPLC-HG-AFS analysis showed the majority of solid-phase arsenic to be arsenate (AsV). Pore waters obtained from the lysimeters showed variable, relatively low levels of arsenite (AsIII) and arsenate (AsV) to be present (<1–129 µg l–1). Less toxic arsenate predominated in most pore waters, with the presence of minor amounts of arsenite suggesting heterogeneous redox conditions. Pore-water arsenic concentrations were strongly positively related to solid-phase arsenate concentrations.

The use of techniques that assess the speciation of arsenic both in the solid and aqueous phases of a soil provides important information about the mobility of arsenic. The methodology presented in this paper may offer a novel basis for risk assessments of other contaminated sites.

KEYWORDS: arsenic, Cornwall, mining, UK, speciation, microwave, extraction, arsenite, arsenate, lysimeter




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Mineral MagHome page
K. Hudson-Edwards and M. E. Hodson
Speciation and toxicity: introduction to a thematic set of papers arising out of a meeting held in London during 2004
Mineralogical Magazine, October 1, 2005; 69(5): 555 - 556.
[Full Text] [PDF]


JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland