Arsenic Biogeochemical Cycling in Groundwater Aquifer of the Bengal Delta Plains (India)

Ghosh, Devanita (2015) Arsenic Biogeochemical Cycling in Groundwater Aquifer of the Bengal Delta Plains (India). PhD thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

PDF (PhD thesis of Devanita Ghosh (10RS003)) Devanita_Ghosh-10RS003.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (4MB)

Abstract

In this thesis work the direct role of indigenous bacterial communities in As cycling in the BDP aquifers had been studied and their diversity had been detected. It is found that the As(III) oxidizing bacterial communities are predominant in GSAs and absent in BSAs. Their diversity is comparable to As(III) oxidizing bacterial communities reported from other regions of the world. Rain water recharge containing inorganic and organic dissolved compounds, plays crucial role in shaping various groups of bacterial phylotypes including arsenite oxidizing bacteria as revealed by aioA and 16S rRNA phylogeny. Overall, the thesis work had given a new direction to the long term research going on the As biogeochemical cycling in contaminated aquifers of BDP. The phylogenetic diversity of microbial communities indicated the dominant microbial genera which adapts many mechanisms induced by the increasing concentration of the dissolved in situ stressor As(III). The DOC of groundwater although sustains these microbial communities but the contrasting characters of SOM strongly influence the shaping of microbial community structure and function in BDP aquifers.

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