Behaviour of arsenic in forested catchments following a high-pollution period

Due to high availability of adsorption sites, forested catchments could be net sinks for pollutant arsenic both during the period of increasing and decreasing pollution. We tested this hypothesis along a north–south pollution gradient in spruce die-back affected areas of Central Europe. For two water years (2007–2008), we monitored As fluxes via spruce-canopy throughfall, open-area precipitation, and runoff in four headwater catchments (Czech Republic). Since 1980, atmospheric As inputs decreased 26 times in the north, and 13 times in the south. Arsenic export by runoff was similar to atmospheric inputs at three sites, resulting in a near-zero As mass balance. One site exhibited a net export of As (2.2 g ha−1 yr−1). In contrast, the preceding period (1995–2006) showed much higher As fluxes, and higher As export. Czech catchments do not serve as net sinks of atmospheric As. A considerable proportion of old industrial arsenic is flushed out of the soil.