Relations of As concentrations among groundwater, soil, and bedrock in Chungnam, Korea: implications for As mobilization in groundwater according to the As-hosting mineral change.

Arsenic (As) concentrations and As-bearing minerals in bedrock and soil, and their relations with groundwater concentrations were investigated in a small agricultural area of Korea. The As concentration of the bedrock shows a wide variation (<0.5-3990 mg/kg) and is well correlated with that in the contacting groundwaters (23-178 µg/L). Soils, the weathering product of bedrock, show the lower and more dispersed As concentrations (8.8-387 mg/kg) than the bedrock. But the soil As concentrations are very high relative to those reported from other areas. The As concentrations in the shallow groundwaters are comparatively low (<20 µg/L) and are independent of the soil concentration. Arsenopyrite is the major As-bearing mineral in the bedrock and its oxidation controls the As levels in deep groundwater. In contrast, As mostly resides in soil as Fe-(hydr)oxide-bound forms. Due to low pH and oxidizing redox condition, the release of As from Fe-(hydr)oxides is largely suppressed, and the shallow groundwater shows low As concentrations generally satisfying the drinking water limit. However, it is suggested that the disturbance of soil geochemical conditions by land use changes would cause a serious As contamination of the shallow groundwaters.

Radiocesium reaction with illite and organic matter in marine sediment.

The mineralogical effect on the (137)Cs reaction with marine sediment has not been systematically studied yet, even though illite has been known to adsorb Cs preferentially on its frayed edge sites in a low Cs concentration. Ninety-three marine sediment samples were collected near Yangnam, Korea for quantitative X-ray-diffraction (XRD), gamma-ray, and total organic carbon (TOC) analysis. Illite content was in the range of 0-23 wt.% and those of (137)Cs and TOC were minimum detectable activity (MDA) approximately 7.19 Bq/kg-dry and approximately 3.32%, respectively. The illite content in the marine sediment showed a good relationship with the (137)Cs content (R(2)=0.69), but with an increase in the illite content, the relationship became less linear. This trend can be clearly shown in two groups of samples with different size fractions (< and >5Mdvarphi). For the samples of larger particle sizes (low contents of illite), the relationship is linear, but for the samples of the smaller particle sizes (high illite content) it is less linear with a decreased slope, indicating that increase in illite content does not significantly contribute to the fixation of (137)Cs in marine sediment. Rather, the TOC has a more linear relationship with (137)Cs content with no slope change in all particle size ranges. This may indicate that humic materials in marine sediment block the access of (137)Cs to the frayed edge site and reduces the adsorption of (137)Cs on illite and that the organic materials in marine sediment play more important roles in adsorbing Cs than illite.

Factors influencing natural occurrence of fluoride-rich groundwaters: a case study in the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Factors regulating the occurrence of fluoride in groundwater were investigated using natural isotope tracers and geochemical data in the southeastern part of Korea where about 10% of the total public water-supply wells (n=422) inspected in this study had fluoride levels exceeding the drinking water limit of Korea (1.5 mg/l). The F-rich public wells are mostly distributed along the major faults, especially in the terrain of the F-rich granitic rocks. The stable isotope analysis results provide substantial information for the relative ages of groundwaters. It is revealed that the F-rich groundwaters are deeply circulating paleogroundwaters and occur along the faults due to upward flow along the fault plane. While reacting with granitic rocks for a prolonged period, the F concentrations of groundwater are continuously enriched even after the groundwater reaches an equilibrium state with respect to fluorite (CaF2) due to removal of Ca by precipitation of calcite (CaCO3). These observations reflect that rock chemistry, groundwater age, well depth, and geologic structure are the important factors controlling the occurrence of high F groundwaters. However, high F groundwaters are rarely observed in the fault zones where the associated fractures are widely developed. Isotopic signature provides an evidence for deep penetration of recently recharged groundwater into the wide fault zone, indicating that the hydrologic condition of the fault is also an important factor controlling the occurrence of high F groundwaters.