Can Arsenic Occurrence Rates in Bedrock Aquifers Be Predicted?
Yang
Qiang
author
Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Jung
Hun Bok
author
Marvinney
Robert G.
author
Culbertson
Charles W.
author
Zheng
Yan
author
Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
originator
text
Articles
2012
English
A high percentage (31%) of groundwater samples from bedrock aquifers in the greater Augusta area, Maine was found to contain greater than 10 μg L–1 of arsenic. Elevated arsenic concentrations are associated with bedrock geology, and more frequently observed in samples with high pH, low dissolved oxygen, and low nitrate. These associations were quantitatively compared by statistical analysis. Stepwise logistic regression models using bedrock geology and/or water chemistry parameters are developed and tested with external data sets to explore the feasibility of predicting groundwater arsenic occurrence rates (the percentages of arsenic concentrations higher than 10 μg L–1) in bedrock aquifers. Despite the under-prediction of high arsenic occurrence rates, models including groundwater geochemistry parameters predict arsenic occurrence rates better than those with bedrock geology only. Such simple models with very few parameters can be applied to obtain a preliminary arsenic risk assessment in bedrock aquifers at local to intermediate scales at other localities with similar geology.
Supporting material available at http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:12894.
Environmental science
Environmental Science & Technology
46
4
2080
2087
2012-02-21
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es203793x
http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:13311
NNC
NNC
2012-05-23 16:17:48 -0400
2013-02-18 15:34:05 -0500
7316
eng