Environmental impact of flood: The study of arsenic speciation in exchangeable fraction of flood deposits of Warta river (Poland) in determination of “finger prints” of the pollutants origin and the ways of the migration

The paper presents the application of the hyphenated technique – high-performance liquid chromatography with atomic absorption spectrometry detection with hydride generation (HPLC–HG–AAS) – in the determinations of inorganic forms of arsenic: As(III) and As(V) in the exchangeable fraction of flood deposits. The separation of analytical signals of the determined arsenic forms was obtained using an ion-exchange column in a chromatographic system with the atomic absorption spectrometer as a detector, at the determination limits of 5 ng g−1 for As(III) and 10 ng g−1 for As(V). Flood deposits were collected after big flood event in valley of the Warta river which took place in summer 2010. Samples of overbank deposits were taken in Poznań agglomeration and vicinity (NW Poland). The results of determinations of arsenic forms in the exchangeable fraction of flood deposits allowed indication of a hypothetical path of deposits migration transported by a river during flood and environmental threats posed by their deposition by flood.

► We determined of arsenic inorganic species in exchangeable fraction of flood sediments.
► We use the results of speciation analysis as markers of deposits origin.
► We defined of way and sources of contamination of the environment.