Thermodynamic Modeling of Thioarsenic Species Distribution in High As Groundwater in Hetao Plain*

Thioarsenic has gained increasing attention as a newly identified arsenic species. This paper selected Hetao Plain as the study area. Based on the field survey data and the thermodynamic reaction equation, the distribution characteristics of thioarsenic speciation in high-arsenic groundwater were simulated and analyzed. The results show that the major of arsenic speciation is arsenite, followed by thioarsenate and arsenate, and thethioarsenite concentrations are extremely low. Among them, monothioarsenate and trithioarsenate are the predominant thioarsnate species, with monothioarsenite being the dominant thioarsenite. In the buried depth of the range of 5~40 m, the content of various arsenic species does not change significantly with increasing depth. In the range of 40~80 m buried depth, the content of arsenite decreases with the increase of depth, and the content of thioarsenite increases with depth. Sulfide concentration has a significant effect on the distribution of arsenic species. When the concentration of sulfide is less than 5 μg/L, the various arsenic species do not change regularly with the increase of sulfide concentration. When the sulfide concentration is more than 5 μg/L, the content of arsenite and arsenate decreases with the increase of sulfide concentration, and the content of thioarsenate and thioarsenite tends to increase, and mutual transformation happens between different thioarsenite and thioarsenate species.