Arsenic in Lake Geneva (Switzerland, France): long term monitoring, and redox and methylation speciation in an As unpolluted, oligo-mesotrophic lake

Abstract

Arsenic speciation was followed monthly along the spring productivity period (January–June 2021) in the Petit Lac (76 m deep) and in April and June 2021 in the Grand Lac (309.7 m deep) of Lake Geneva (Switzerland/France). Lake Geneva is presently an oligo-mesotrophic lake, and As-unpolluted. The water column never becomes anoxic but the oxygen saturation at the bottom of the Grand Lac is now below 30% owing to lack of water column mixing since 2012. Thus, this lake offers excellent conditions to study As behaviour in an unpolluted, oxic freshwater body. The following ‘dissolved’ As species: iAs(III), iAs(III + V), MA(III), MA(III + V), DMA(III + V), and TMAO were analysed by HG-CT-ICP-MS/MS. Water column measurements were complemented with occasional sampling in the main rivers feeding the lake and in the interstitial waters of a sediment core. The presence of MA(III) and TMAO and the predominance of iAs(V) in lake and river samples has been confirmed as well as the key role of algae in the formation of organic species. While the total ‘dissolved’ As concentrations showed nearly vertical profiles in the Petit Lac, As concentrations steadily increase at deeper depths in the Grand Lac due to the lack of mixing and build up in bottom waters. The evaluation of 25 years of monthly data of ‘dissolved’ As concentrations showed no significant temporal trends between 1997 and 2021. The observed seasonal character of the ‘dissolved’ As along this period coincides with a lack of seasonality in As mass inventories, pointing to a seasonal internal cycling of As species in the water column with exchanges between the ‘dissolved’ and ‘particulate’ (i.e., algae) fractions.