Marine arsenic cycle

Sanders, J.G. 1980. Arsenic cycling in marine systems. Mar. Environ. Res. 3 257-266. 

Sanders, J.G., Riedel, G.F. and Osman, R.W. (1994) Arsenic cycling and its impact in estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems, in Arsenic in the Environment Part I Cycling and Characterization (ed. J.O., Nriagu), John Wiley Sons, Ltd, New York, pp. 289-308. 

The application of these techniques has led to the discovery of a number of organometallic species of arsenic, tin, and antimony in the marine environment. Germanium has not been observed to form organometallic compounds in nature. Some aspects of the geochemical cycles of these elements which have been elucidated by the use of these methods are discussed. 

A variety of human activities and products may contaminate estuaries with arsenic, including wood preservatives, pesticides, fertilizer manufacturing, mine drainage and wastes, coal utilization, runoff from slags used as road ballast, and arsenical paints from ships (Landrum, 1994 Davis, De Cumou and Eary, 1997), 370 (Pirrie et al., 2002 Mirlean et al., 2003). In some cases, specific arsenic sources cannot be identified (O Reilly Wiese, Bubb and Lester, 1995). Nevertheless, the cycling of arsenic between water and sediments in contaminated estuaries is often similar to cycles in pristine estuaries, open marine environments, and lakes. 

Edmonds JS and Francesconi KA (1981) Arseno-sugarsjrom brown kelp (Ecklonia radiata) as intermediates in cycling of arsenic in a marine ecosystem. Nature 289 602-604. 

Bacterial demethylation of methylarsenicals is known to occur in aerobic aqueous and terrestrial environments, giving rise to CO2 and arsenate. Common soil bacteria, such as Mycobacterium, Alcaligenes, and Pseudomonas, are known to demethylate mono- and dimethylarsenic compounds. An important part of the biogeological cycling of arsenic involves bacterial demethylation of methylarsenic acids excreted by marine algae, although the mechanism(s) of demethylation of methylated arsenic compounds is essentially unknown. 

KA Francesconi, IS Edmonds, M Morita. Determination of arsenic and arsenic species in marine environmental samples. In lO Nriagu, ed. Arsenic in the Environment. Part I Cycling and Characterization. New York Wiley, 1994, pp 189-219. 

Edmonds, J. S., and Francesconl, K. A., 1981, Arseno-sugars from brown kelp (Ecklonla radlata) as Intermediates In cycling of arsenic In a marine ecosystem. Nature, 289 602. 

Sea. Randama and Sahama [12] suggest that sediments and sedimentary rocks of marine origin should contain more arsenic than igneous rocks do, because large amounts of arsenic have been introduced directly into the exogenic cycle by volcanic activity. 

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