Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Chakdaha - Role of Mica Minerals: Geochemistry of Groundwater, 1-d Reactive Transport Modeling and Importance of Micas in Arsenic Mobilization

High arsenic (As) groundwater poses the greatest threat to human health for the population drinking groundwater from Holocene alluvial aquifer in the Bengal Delta Plain (BDP, Bangladesh and West Bengal, India), causes increasing global concern in recent years. The first part of this study focuses on world scenario of As contamination, the factors controlling sorption and release of As in groundwater, its sources, mechanisms of As mobilization in BDP and geochemical transport modeling. The application of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as a surface sensitive technique to investigate oxido-reduction reaction at mica-water interface is discussed in the second part.