Microbes Enhance Mobility of Arsenic in Pleistocene Aquifer Sand from Bangladesh

Dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria can mobilize As, but few studies have studied such processes in deeper orange-colored Pleistocene sands containing 1-2 mg kg(-1) As that are associated with low-As groundwater in Bangladesh. To address this gap, anaerobic incubations were conducted in replicate over 90 days using natural orange sands initially containing 0.14 mg kg(-1) of 1 M phosphate-extractable As (24 h), >99% as As(V), and 0.8 g kg(-1) of 1.2 M HCl-leachable Fe (1 h at 80 °C), 95% as Fe(III). The sediment was resuspended in artificial groundwater, with or without lactate as a labile carbon source, and inoculated with metal-reducing Shewanella sp. ANA-3. Within 23 days, dissolved As concentrations increased to 17 μg L(-1) with lactate, 97% as As(III), and…