Abstract
The present research work shows that the concentrations of heavy metals can be expressed as Fe>Mn>Zn>Ni>Cr>Pb>Co>As in the groundwater of Phulbari area, Dinajpur, Bangladesh on the basis of their abundance. The Plio-Pleistocene Dupi Tila aquifer sediment is principally composed of quartz, feldspar and lithic grains and is characterized by low ZTR index. Seventeen groundwater samples have higher iron concentrations than the permissible limit of WHO, 2004. The chemical weathering of pyrite release iron in the natural water of the study area. The manganese content of two groundwater samples is higher than the acceptable limit. The high abundance of potassium in 11.11% water samples is indicative of the influence of agricultural activity in the investigated area. The factor analysis reveals the dominance of four factors that comprise 77.276% of the groundwater sample. The contamination index (Cd) for the heavy metals were performed and 88.89% of the groundwater samples have low contamination index. The calcium of the groundwater is resulted from the dissolution of carbonate rocks. The low arsenic concentrations indicate the fast flowing nature of the groundwater and/or low arsenic content of the aquifer sediments. The low cobalt content of the groundwater reflects the low cobalt concentration of the aquifer sediments. The heavy metal chemistry of the groundwater of the study area reveals that the quality of the water is influenced by the geogenic sources as well as the anthropogenic activities like coal mining and agricultural activities. Â
Highlights
Groundwater is a natural resource that is necessary for the economic development of a country
The Dupi Tile sandstone is characterized by the low ZTR index (Roy et al 2004).The Plio-Pleistocene medium to coarse-grained Dupi Tila sandstone is mainly composed of 95.17% SiO2 and 2.11% Al2O3 on an average and the study of the mineralogical composition shows the presence of quartz, feldspar and lithic grains in the sandstone (Rahman et al 2014).The geochemical study of the water of the Phulbari area reveals that the major cation facies are Ca2+ and Na+ whereas the major anion facies are HCO31- and SO42- (Howlader et al 2014)
The Plio-Pleistocene Dupi Tila sandstone aquifer is composed of quartz, feldspar and lithic grains
Summary
Groundwater is a natural resource that is necessary for the economic development of a country. The present research work deals with the assessment of the groundwater quality of Phulbari Upazila, Dinajpur, Bangladesh where the groundwater can be contaminated principally from the mining and agricultural activities. The study of the stratigraphic succession of the Barapukuria Basin shows that the coal bearing Gondwana Group overlies on the Precambrian basement complex (Hossain 1999). The Gondwana Group is underlain by the Dupi Tila Formation in the studied coal Basin (Wardell 1991). The Dupi Tile sandstone is characterized by the low ZTR index (Roy et al 2004).The Plio-Pleistocene medium to coarse-grained Dupi Tila sandstone is mainly composed of 95.17% SiO2 and 2.11% Al2O3 on an average and the study of the mineralogical composition shows the presence of quartz, feldspar and lithic grains in the sandstone (Rahman et al 2014).The geochemical study of the water of the Phulbari area reveals that the major cation facies are Ca2+ and Na+ whereas the major anion facies are HCO31- and SO42- (Howlader et al 2014). The present research work is carried out to show the heavy metal concentrations of the groundwater in order to determine their source and contamination level using contamination index of Backman et al, 1998
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