The behaviour of arsenic in muddy sediments of the Bay of Biscay (France)

Abstract

We have studied particulate and dissolved arsenic species in sediment and porewaters at sites in the Bay of Biscay, France, ranging in depths from 150 to 2,800 m. At all stations, major redox species (oxygen, nitrate, ammonia, total and reactive iron and manganese, sulphate and sulphur) reflect early diagenetic depth sequences of redox reactions comparable to other marine environments. Vertical distributions of dissolved and particulate As species and major redox species are related to changes in redox conditions and their major carrier phases, such as Fe and Mn-oxides. Arsenic diagenesis appears strongly dependent on Fe cycling. A subsurface maximum of dissolved As and surface enrichment of particulate As correspond to dissolution and precipitation of Fe (III) phases. Except for the shallowest and most bioturbated site, flux calculations show three different vertical diffusive As fluxes: two upwards and one downwards. Phase changes of recycled As result in local accumulations of reactive As at different redox fronts. Mass-balance calculations indicate that the upward As flux toward the oxidized layer can explain the enrichment of HCl extractable particulate As in this layer. A portion of the upward diffusing As can escape the sediment and may be fixed onto settling Fe-oxides by adsorption or co-precipitation and contribute to reactive particulate As input (i.e., As is recycled across the water sediment interface).