Our investigation was situated in the natural geochemical arsenic anomaly at Smolotely-Líšnice Au district (Central Bohemia). Using the combination of geochemical (bulk soil and pore water analyses, selective chemical extractions, S isotopes), mineralogical (XRD, TEM, SEM/EDS) and biological (DNA extraction) methods we characterized massive accumulations of authigenic arsenic and iron sulfides (realgar, bonazziite, pyrite and greigite) on the fragments of organic matter that were buried in the shallow wetland soil. We have shown that by the development of suitable conditions of sulfidogenesis (very fast microbial sulfate reduction vs. slow transfer of solutes), fragments of organic matter may play an active role in arsenic immobilization in wetland systems.

Knappová M., Drahota P., Falteisek L., Culka A., Penížek V., Trubač J., Mihaljevič M., Matoušek T. (2019): Microbial sulfidogenesis of arsenic in naturally contaminated wetland soil. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 267, 33-50. (DOI)