Arsenic in rocks and stream sediments of the central Appalachian Basin, Kentucky

Arsenic (As) enrichment in coal and stream sediments has been documented in the southern Appalachian basin (see Goldhaber and others, submitted) and is attributed to interaction of rocks and coal with metamorphic fluids generated during the Allegheny Orogeny (late Paleozoic). Similarly derived fluids are expected to affect the coal and in the Kentucky Appalachian Basin to the north as well. In addition, similar processes may have influenced the Devonian oil shale on the western margin of the basin. The major goals of this study are to determine the effect such fluids had on rocks in the Kentucky Appalachian basin (fig. 1), and to understand the geochemical processes that control trace-metal source, residence, and mobility within the basin. This report includes data presented in a poster at the USGS workshop on arsenic (February 21 and 22, 2001), new NURE stream sediment data3 , and field data from a trip in April 2001. Although data for major and minor elements and all detectable trace metals are reported in the Appendices, the narrative of this report primarily focuses on arsenic.