Arsenic mobilization by anaerobic iron-dependent methane oxidation

Arsenic groundwater contamination threatens the health of millions of people worldwide, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. In most cases, the release of arsenic from sediment was caused by microbial reductive dissolution of arsenic-bearing iron(III) minerals with organic carbon being used as microbial electron donor. Although in many arsenic-contaminated aquifers high concentrations of methane were observed, its role in arsenic mobilization is unknown. Here, using microcosms experiments and hydrogeochemical and microbial community analyses, we demonstrate that methane functions as electron donor for methanotrophs, triggering the reductive dissolution of arsenic-bearing iron(III) minerals, increasing the abundance of genes related to methane oxidation, and ultimately mobilizing arsenic into the water. Our findings provide evidence for a methane-mediated mechanism for arsenic mobilization that is distinct from previously described pathways. Taking this together with the common presence of methane in arsenic-contaminated aquifers, we suggest that this methane-driven arsenic mobilization may contribute to arsenic contamination of groundwater on a global scale. Methane can increase groundwater arsenic contamination by triggering the dissolution of arsenic-bearing iron oxide minerals by methane-oxidizing microorganisms, according to microcosm experiments on arsenic-bearing sediments from the Red River Delta, Vietnam.