Using DET and DGT probes (ferrihydrite and titanium dioxide) to investigate arsenic concentrations in soil porewater of an arsenic-contaminated paddy field in Bangladesh

Arsenic concentration in the pore water of paddy fields (C-soln) irrigated with arsenic-rich groundwater is a key parameter in arsenic uptake by rice. Pore water extracts from cores and in situ deployment of DET and DGT probes were used to measure the arsenic concentration in the porewater. Ferrihydrite (Fe) and titaniumdioxide (Ti) were used as DGT binding agents. Six sampling events during different growing stages of the rice, inducing different biogeochemical conditions, were performed in one rice field. A time series of DGT experiments allow the determination of an in situ arsenic diffusion coefficient in the diffusive gel (3.34 x 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1)) needed to calculate the so-called C-DGT(Fe) and C-DGT(Ti) concentrations. Over 3 days of a given sampling event and for cores sampled at intervals smaller than 50 cm, great variability in arsenic C-soln concentrations between vertical profiles was observed, with maxima of concentrations varying from 690 to 2800 mu g L-1. Comparisons between arsenic measured C-sol and C-DET and calculated C-DGT(Fe) and C-DGT(Ti) concentrations show either, in a few cases, roughly similar vertical profiles, or in other cases, significantly different profiles. An established iron oxyhydroxide precipitation in the DET gel may explain why measured arsenic C-DET concentrations occasionally exceeded C-soln. The large spread in results suggests limitations to the use of DET and type of DGT probes used here for similarly representing the spatio-temporal variations of arsenic content in soil pore water in specific environmental such as paddy soils. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.