Arsenic global cycle

Chilvers D.C., Peterson P.J. Global cycling of arsenic. In Lead, Mercury and Arsenic in the Environment, T.C. Hutchinson, K.M. Meema, eds. New York John Wiley. 1987. 

Merian E. 1984. Introduction on environmental chemistry and global cycles of chromium, nickel, cobalt, beryllium, arsenic, cadmium and selenium, and their derivatives. Toxicol Environ Chem 8 9-38. 

Chilvers DC and Peterson PJ (1987) Global cycling of arsenic. In Hutchinson TC and Meema KM, eds. Lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic in the environment. SCOPE 31 279-301. John Wiley Sons New York. 

Meeian E (1985) Introduction on Environmental Chemistry and Global Cycles of Chromium, Nickel, Cobalt, Beryllium, Arsenic, Cadmium, and Selenium. In Merian E, Erei RW, Haerdi W and Schlatter C, eds. Carcinogenic and Mutagenic Compounds, pp. 25-32. Gordon Breach, London. 

Both oxidation and methylation are microbial transformations involved in the redistribution and global cycling of arsenic. Oxidation involves the conversion of toxic arsenite to less toxic arsenate. Bacterial methylation of inorganic arsenic under anaerobic conditions may be a mechanism of arsenic detoxification. Fungi also transform inorganic and organic arsenic compounds into volatile methylar-sines. However, unlike methylated selenium which is nontoxic, the volatile arsine... 

Arsenic moves between ditferent environmental compartments (rock-soil-water-air-biota) from the local to the global scale partly as a result of pH and redox changes. Being a minor component in the natural environment, arsenic responds to such changes rather than creating them. These changes are driven by the major (bio)geochemical cycles. 

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