Distribution of Arsenic and Trace Metals in the Floodplain Agricultural Soil of Bangladesh

Abstract

Arsenic contaminated groundwater of Bangladesh is one of the largest natural calamities of the world. Soil samples were collected from floodplain agricultural land of Faridpur and Dhamrai regions to estimate the concentration of arsenic and other trace metals (copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, cadmium, lead, selenium, cobalt, mercury, and manganese). Average arsenic in Faridpur soil was recorded more than three times higher than the world limit and nearly five times higher than that of Dhamrai. The average copper, chromium and cobalt both in Faridpur and Dhamrai agricultural soil were also higher than the Dutch and the world standards. Both Fardipur and Dhamrai soil contain low amount of selenium in comparison to world limit (0.7 mg kg(-1)). A poor correlation between manganese and arsenic was noticed in Faridpur. This may be played a subordinate role in the fixation of arsenic in soil. This study also reveals that the area which has arsenic and trace metal contaminated groundwater may also contain high level of arsenic and trace metals in the agricultural soil due to irrigation with contaminated groundwater.

Arsenic contamination in shallow groundwater and agricultural soil of Chakdaha block, West Bengal, India

“…Figure 3 shows the correlation analysis done for As concentration in soil and water of the study area (Supplementary Table 3). It was observed that the As concentration in soil shows a significant correlation with As concentration in water (Alam and Sattar, 2000), specially As rich irrigation water can enrich the As level in agricultural soil up to five times than normal Ahsan et al, 2008) which found in our study also. The correlation found in the study was of the value of r = 0.71, p << 0.01, although a very fair correlation was observed in the study conducted by Roychowdhury et al (2002) in West Bengal.…”

“…Ahsan et al (2008) also found a significant correlation although it was very weak between As and Fe in both the study areas. Similar to our result, a significant correlation was observed between As with Fe and Mn in the study conducted by Cai et al (2002) in South Florida.…”

Experiment for Arsenic Accumulation into Rice Cultivated with Arsenic Enriched Irrigation Water in Bangladesh

“…Arsenic accumulation in paddy soil was increased significantly (p ≤ 0.01) with increase of arsenic concentration in irrigation water ( Table 3). The average arsenic concentration in Faridpur district of Bangladesh was more than three times higher than the world standard (10 mg/kg) [22]. We found that up to 1 mg/l As in irrigation water, the soil arsenic not exceeded the world standard but thereafter arsenic concentration in paddy soil was found higher than the world standard for soil (Table 3).…”

Surface Generated Organic Matter: An Important Driver for Arsenic Mobilization in Bengal Delta Plain

“…This is mainly because of the continuous infl ux of As through contaminated irrigation water. The As supplied through irrigation water accumulates itself on to the sediments and also gets adsorbed on the iron plaque formed at the roots of paddy plants (Ahsan et al 2009 ;Dittmar et al 2007 ;Norra et al 2005 ;van Geen et al 2006 ). Around 50 % of roots of paddy plant extend in fi rst 10-15 cm below the ground surface (Mathan and Natesan 1988 ) and thus, the major fraction of unusually higher As concentration at this depth seems to be contributed by the accumulation of As in root zones (Otte et al 1995 ).…”