7092

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7092
• Author: Eisler, R.
• Title: Arsenic Hazards to Fish, Wildlife, and Invertebrates
• USFW Year: 1988.
• USFW - Doc Type: A Synoptic Review.
• Copyright Material: NO

both from natural sources and as a result of industrial use, agricultural and
deforestation activities, emissions from coal and oil combustion, and loss
during mining of metal ores. If present activities continue, arsenic
concentrations in oceanic surface waters may increase overall by about 2% by
the year 2000, with most of the increased burden in estuaries and coastal
oceans--e.g., Puget Sound, Washington; the Tamar, England; and the Tejo,
Portugal (Sanders 1985). Estimates of the residence times of arsenic are
60,000 years in the ocean and 45 years in a freshwater lake (NgCC 1978). In
the hydrosphere, inorganic arsenic+gccurs predominantly as As+ in surface
waters, and significantly as As in groundwaters containing high levels of
total arsenic. The main organic species in freshwater are methylarsonic acid
and dimethylarsinic acid, and these are usually present in lower
concentrations than inorganic arsenites and arsenates (Pershagen and Vahter
1979). Total arsenic concentrations in both surface and groundwaters are
usually < 10 ug/1; in certain areas, however, levels above 1 mg/l have been
recorded (Pershagen and Vahter 1979).
In air, Tgst arsenic particulates consist of inorganic arsenic compounds,
often as As . Burning of coal and arsenic-treated wood, and smelting of
metals are major sources of atmospheric arsenic contamination (i.e., >1
ug/m ); in general, atmospheric arsenic levels are higher in winter, due to
increased use of coal for heating (Pershagen and Vahter 1979).
The main carrier of arsenic in rocks and in most types of mineral
deposits is iron pyrite (FeS ), which may contain >2,000 mg/kg of arsenic
(NRCC 1978). In localized areas, soils are contaminated by arsenic oxide
fallout from smelting ores (especially sulfide ores) and combustion of
arsenic-rich coal (Woolson 1975).
Arsenic in lacustrine sediment columns is subject to control by
diagenetic processes and adsorption mechanisms, as well as anthropogenic
influences (Farmer and Lovell 1986). For example, elevated levels of arsenic
in surface or near surface sediments may be due to several causes (Farmer and
Lovell 1986): natural processes (Loch Lomond, Scotland); or to human
activities such as smelters (Lake Washington, Washington; Kelly Lake, Ontario,
Canada), manufacture of arsenical herbicides (Brown's Lake, Wisconsin), and
mining operations (Northwest Territories, Canada). Elevated levels of arsenic
in sediments of the Wailoa River, Hawaii, are caused by As 0 applied as an
anti-termite agent between 1932 and 1963, and are mostly iA haerobic sediment
regions where the chemical has been relatively undisturbed by biological
activity; low levels of arsenic in the biota of that estuary suggest that
arsenic is trapped in the anaerobic sediment layers (Hallacher et al. 1985).
Arsenic geochemistry in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, depends on
anthropogenic inputs and phytoplankton species composition (Sanders 1985).
Inputs of anthropogenic arsenic into Chesapeake Bay are estimated at 100 kg
daily, or 39 tons/year--probably from sources such as unreported industrial
discharges, use of arsenical herbicides, and from wood preservatives (Sanders
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