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Origin of arsenic in Late Pleistocene to Holocene sediments in the Nawalparasi district (Terai, Nepal)

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Abstract

A sedimentological and geochemical study was carried out to explore the origin of arsenic contamination in sediments in Nawalparasi district, in the western Terai of Nepal. The investigation tools include major, trace and rare earth element analyses of core sediments, as well as 14C datings, and O, C isotopic analyses on mollusk shells. The results show that black schists from the Lesser Himalaya highly contributed to the detrital input in Parasi during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition because of focused erosion related to rapid uplift and high rainfall along the Main Central Thrust zone. In addition, aquifer silts, sands, and most of the brown clays underwent a certain degree of chemical weathering and physical reworking, and show possible inputs from the Siwaliks during the Late Holocene. A possible correlation between late Quaternary climate regimes and the concentration of arsenic in sediments is suspected, with arsenic preferentially concentrated during the drier periods of the last 25 kyr BP. The process of arsenic eluviations in sandy and silty sediments can explain the lower arsenic concentrations in sediments during humid periods. During the drier periods, seasonal precipitation was smaller and temperature was lower, leading to wet (less evaporative) soils in swampy environments. This environment favoured the development of aquatic plants and bacteria growing within in the moist land areas, enhancing the strong weathering of initially suspended load particles (micas and clays), which were preferentially deposited in quiet hydraulic environments. These sorting and weathering processes presumably allowed the arsenic to be concentrated in the finest sediment fraction.

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Acknowledgments

The research project was supported by NSF, the CNRS INSU EC2CO and Labex OSUG20@20 programs. We acknowledge James W. LaMoreaux and the two anonymous reviewers for fruitful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISTerre, University of Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, 38031, Grenoble, France

    Stéphane Guillot, Marion Garçon, Delphine Tisserand, Pascale Huyghe & Laurent Charlet

  2. Earth and Environmental Sciences, California State University, Fresno, USA

    Beth Weinman

  3. Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Ananta Gajurel & Bishal Nath Upreti

  4. Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, CNRS, 54501, Vandoeuvre lès Nancy, France

    Christian France-Lanord

  5. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA

    Alex van Geen

  6. Department of Chemistry, Kanchrapara College, Kanchrapara, 743145, West Bengal, India

    Sudipta Chakraborty

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  1. Stéphane Guillot
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  2. Marion Garçon
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  4. Ananta Gajurel
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Guillot, S., Garçon, M., Weinman, B. et al. Origin of arsenic in Late Pleistocene to Holocene sediments in the Nawalparasi district (Terai, Nepal). Environ Earth Sci 74, 2571–2593 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4277-y

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