Geochemical factors controlling natural background levels of phosphate in various groundwater units in a large-scale urbanized area

Assessing natural background levels (NBLs) of groundwater chemical components is useful to the identification of geochemical factors controlling the origin of high levels of chemical components in groundwater. This study assessed the NBLs of phosphate in various groundwater units in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) where urbanization is a large-scale by the combination of a modified pre-selection method and Grubbs’ test, and discussed main geochemical processes controlling the origin of high levels of phosphate in groundwater. Here, the PRD is divided into four groundwater units according to its hydrogeological conditions. The modified pre-selection method consists of detected organic contaminants, the oxidation capacity, as well as the high levels of ammonium and nitrate in groundwater. Results showed that the NBL of phosphate in the coastal-alluvial aquifer was abnormal high (1.8 mg/L), and was >4 times that in other groundwater units. This is mainly attributed to the co-release of phosphate, bicarbonate, and Fe(II) accompanied with the elevated pH and decreased Eh, which resulted from the mineralization of organic matter accompanied with the reductive dissolution of Fe(III)-(hydr)oxides as well as the desorption of other secondary minerals such as aluminum oxyhydroxides in the overlaid marine stratum. Besides, unlike other groundwater units, the property of discharge area of the coastal-alluvial aquifer with more reducing environment also contributes the higher NBL of phosphate in the coastal-alluvial aquifer than in other groundwater units. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.