Dual-domain column experiment data for aquifer sediments from Riverton, WY, 2018, examining groundwater mobility and speciation of arsenic

This dataset is a compilation of the data that supported the publication of Kumar et al. (2020) in ES&T, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06502. The data is from a dual domain column experiment examining the impact of redox interfaces on arsenic speciation and mobility in natural groundwater sediments that were collected at the Riverton, WY, US Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management field site. The abstract for the associated publication reads:Groundwater contamination by As from natural and anthropogenic sources is a world-wide concern. Redox heterogeneities over space and time are common and can influence the molecular-level speciation of As, and thus As release/retention, but are largely unexplored. Here we present results from a dual-domain column experiment, with natural organic-rich, fine-grained, and sulfidic sediments embedded as lenses (referred to as ‘reducing lenses’) within natural aquifer sand. We show that redox interfaces in sulfur-rich, alkaline aquifers may release concerning levels of As, even when sediment As concentration is low (<2 mg/kg), due to the formation of mobile thioarsenates at aqueous sulfide:Fe molar ratios <1. In our experiments, this behavior occurred in the aquifer sand between reducing lenses and was attributed to the spreading of sulfidic conditions and subsequent Fe reductive dissolution. In contrast, inside reducing lenses (and some locations in the aquifer) the aqueous sulfide:Fe molar ratios exceeded 1 and aqueous sulfide:As molar ratios exceeded 100, which partitioned As(III)-S to the solid phase (associated with organics or as realgar (As4S4)). These results highlight the importance of thioarsenates in natural sediments and indicate that redox interfaces and sediment heterogeneities could locally degrade groundwater quality, even in aquifers with unconcerning solid phase As concentrations.