Arsenic-contaminated groundwater from parts of Damodar fan-delta and west of Bhagirathi River,West Bengal,India: influence of fluvial geomorphology and Quaternary morphostratigraphy |
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Authors: | Subhrangsu K Acharyya Babar A Shah |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700 032, India |
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Abstract: | Arsenic contamination in groundwater affecting West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh is a serious environmental problem. Contamination
is extensive in the low-lying areas of Bhagirathi–Ganga delta, located mainly to the east of the Bhagirathi River. A few isolated
As-contaminated areas occur west of the Bhagirathi River and over the lower parts of the Damodar river fan-delta. The Damodar
being a Peninsular Indian river, the arsenic problem is not restricted to Himalayan rivers alone. Arsenic contamination in
the Bengal Delta is confined to the Holocene Younger Delta Plain and the alluvium that was deposited around 10,000–7,000 years
bp, under combined influence of the Holocene sea-level rise and rapid erosion in the Himalaya. Further, contaminated areas are
often located close to distribution of abandoned or existing channels, swamps, which are areas of surface water and biomass
accumulation. Extensive extraction of groundwater mainly from shallow aquifers cause recharge from nearby surface water bodies.
Infiltration of recharge water enriched in dissolved organic matter derived either from recently accumulated biomass and/or
from sediment organic matter enhanced reductive dissolution of hydrated iron oxide that are present mainly as sediment grain
coatings in the aquifers enhancing release of sorbed arsenic to groundwater. |
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Keywords: | Arsenic in groundwater Damodar fan-delta Quaternary morphostratigraphy Source and release of arsenic West Bengal (India) |
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