Abstract
Groundwater evolution and its quality assessment in two contrasting geological terrains of southwestern Nigeria was undertaken. A total of 22 groundwater samples were collected with 11 groundwater samples representative of each geological terrain. The results of the water quality assessment showed that the waters from both environments are generally dominated by Ca2+, Cl−, and HCO3− ions. Okitipupa groundwaters are fresh, more acidic and of better quality due to its lesser total dissolved solids and other dissolved chemical ions that are of health concern than Ore groundwaters. Most of the major anions and cations in the water samples fall within World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits but Water Quality Index (WQI) of Ore groundwater exhibit poor quality in greater proportion compared to Okitipupa groundwater which are all of good quality. Irrigation water quality results (SAR, MAR, RSC, PI and SSP) revealed that all the water samples from the two environments are suitable for agricultural purposes. However, the basement complex groundwaters are however of low, medium and high salinity hazard (SH) while the coastal sedimentary basin sourced groundwaters are made up of low and medium salinity hazard. Gibbs diagram revealed two similar mechanisms such as evaporation-crystallization and rock-weathering. From the Piper’s trilinear plots for the two environments, Ca–Cl water type predominate but Ca–HCO3 and Ca–SO4 water types can also be found in these environments. Deductions from the hydrogeochemical analysis and different statistical inferences employed for this study resulted in a model that establish the conjunctive imprints of anthropogenic and geogenic activities influencing the increasing dissolved chemical constituents in the groundwaters. This was actually resulted from the contrasting geological environments from where the waters were sourced. Nevertheless, groundwater from the two environments are suitable for domestic and irrigation purposes.
Published Version
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