Arsenic geochemistry in Chesapeake Bay: Dependence upon anthropogenic inputs and phytoplankton species composition

Arsenic is not conservative in Chesapeake Bay. Inputs of man-derived arsenic, of the order of 100 kg d⁻¹, cause substantial positive deviation from theoretical dilution. The chemical form of the arsenic varies both seasonally and along the axis of the bay. During winter, arsenic is present only as arsenate. During summer, substantial quantities of reduced and methylated forms are present in different areas, indicative of separate formation processes. Arsenite, present in low-salinity regions, may have been formed by chemical reduction in anoxic, subsurface waters and then mixed into the surface layer. Methylated arsenicals correlate highly with algal standing stocks. One particular form, methylarsonate, is highly correlated with the dominant algal genus, Chroomonas. As both arsenic reactivity and toxicity are altered by transformation of chemical form, the observed variations in arsenic speciation have considerable geochemical and ecological significance.