Alteration of As-bearing phases in a small watershed located on a high grade arsenic-geochemical anomaly (French Massif Central)

At a watershed scale, sediments and soil weathering exerts a control on solid and dissolved transport of trace elements in surface waters and it can be considered as a source of pollution. The studied subwatershed (1.5 km2) was located on an As-geochemical anomaly. The studied soil profile showed a significant decrease of As content from 1500 mg kg−1 in the 135–165 cm deepest soil layer to 385 mg kg−1 in the upper 0–5 cm soil layer. Directly in the stream, suspended matter and the <63 μm fraction of bed sediments had As concentrations greater than 400 mg kg−1. In all these solid fractions, the main representative As-bearing phases were determined at two different observation scales: bulk analyses using X-ray absorption structure spectroscopy (XAS) and microanalyses using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and associated electron probe microanalyses (EPMA), as well as micro-Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron-based micro-scanning X-ray diffraction (μSXRD) characterization. Three main As-bearing phases were identified: (i) arsenates (mostly pharmacosiderite), the most concentrated phases As in both the coherent weathered bedrock and the 135–165 cm soil layer but not observed in the river solid fraction, (ii) Fe-oxyhydroxides with in situ As content up to 15.4 wt.% in the deepest soil layer, and (iii) aluminosilicates, the least concentrated As carriers. The mineralogical evolution of As-bearing phases in the soil profile, coupled with the decrease of bulk As content, may be related to pedogenesis processes, suggesting an evolution of arsenates into As-rich Fe-oxyhydroxides. Therefore, weathering and mineralogical evolution of these As-rich phases may release As to surface waters.

Research highlights
► Characterization of As-carriers at a microscale by in-situ techniques in a soil profile.
► Decrease of As content from the saprolite to the surface horizon during pedogenesis.
► As was initially associated to Ba-rich pharmacosiderite in the saprolite.
► As was then in goethite, hematite, ferrihydrite-type and aluminosilicates .