Elevated groundwater arsenic in Southeast Asia is a problem, as it is not unusual for wells spaced several meters apart from one another and drilled to the same depth to have dramatically different concentrations of arsenic (i.e., 7-321 ìg/L). This is a compendium of sedimentological, geochemical, and geochronological methods, investigating why Asian aquifers evolve such heterogeneous arsenic distributions. Making use of preliminary arsenic data from sites in Van Phuc, Vietnam; Parasi, Nepal; and Araihazar, Bangladesh, ~1km high-resolution needle- and OSL- sampling transects were conducted between known areas of high and low groundwater arsenic. Results show that arsenic varies predictably with aquifer deposits of differing sources and ages, with groundwater arsenic decreasing in all locations as the age of the aquifer increases. This is important because the results show the degree to which aquifer deposits vary and define the local (i.e., sediment facies and fluvial history) and regional (i.e., sediment source and fluvial history) geomorphic processes that govern arsenic distributions in the region, such as the rates in which these aquifers ingrow and then, possibly, attenuate arsenic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-08112010-212656 |
| Date | 13 August 2010 |
| Creators | Weinman, Beth Anne |
| Contributors | Steven L. Goodbred, Jr, Jim Clarke, Calvin Miller, Florence Sanchez, Ashok Singhvi |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-08112010-212656/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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