Arsenic (As) concentrations and As-bearing minerals in bedrock and soil, and their relations with ground-water concentrations were investigated in a small agricultural area of Korea. The As concentration of the bedrock shows a wide variation (<0.5-3990 mg/kg) and is well correlated with that in the contacting groundwaters (23-178 mu g/L). Soils, the weathering product of bedrock, show the lower and more dispersed As concentrations (8.8-387 mg/kg) than the bedrock. But the soil As concentrations are very high relative to those reported from other areas. The As concentrations in the shallow groundwaters are comparatively low (<20 mu g/L) and are independent of the soil concentration. Arsenopyrite is the major As-bearing mineral in the bedrock and its oxidation controls the As levels in deep groundwater. In contrast, As mostly resides in soil as Fe-(hydr)oxide-bound forms. Due to low pH and oxidizing redox condition, the release of As from Fe-(hydr)oxides is largely suppressed, and the shallow groundwater shows low As concentrations generally satisfying the drinking water limit. However, it is suggested that the disturbance of soil geochemical conditions by land use changes would cause a serious As contamination of the shallow groundwaters. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.