Abstract
The aim of this study is to evaluate the hydrogeochemical characteristics and water environmental quality of shallow groundwater in the Suxian mining area of Huaibei coalfield, China. The natural formation process of shallow groundwater in Suxian is explored using Piper trilinear charts and Gibbs diagrams, and by examining the ratios between the major ions. United States Salinity Laboratory (USSL) charts, Wilcox diagrams, and the water quality index (WQI) are further employed to quantify the differences in water quality. The results reveal that the main hydrochemical facies of groundwater are HCO3–Ca, and that silicate dissolution is the main factor controlling the ion content in shallow groundwater. The USSL charts and Wilcox diagrams show that most of the water samples would be acceptable for use in irrigation systems. The WQI results for each water sample are compared and analyzed, and the quality of groundwater samples around collapse ponds is found to be relatively poor.
Highlights
Groundwater resources are very valuable, and are indispensable for human and agricultural development (Aksoy and Scheytt 2007)
The aim of this study is to evaluate the hydrogeochemical characteristics and water environmental quality of shallow groundwater in the Suxian mining area of Huaibei coalfield, China
This paper reports the results of a study focusing on the Suxian mining area in Huaibei coalfield
Summary
Groundwater resources are very valuable, and are indispensable for human and agricultural development (Aksoy and Scheytt 2007). More than 1.5 billion people worldwide rely on groundwater for domestic water (Adimalla and Qian 2019); in areas of limited precipitation and surface water resources, groundwater resources are . Khanoranga and Khalid (2019) used multivariate statistical analysis to study the groundwater around Balochistan, Pakistan, and found that natural factors and human activities are the main influences on groundwater chemical changes. This paper reports the results of a study focusing on the Suxian mining area in Huaibei coalfield. Analysis of shallow groundwater samples and data processing clarifies the hydrochemical characteristics and influential factors in this area, allowing the suitability of shallow groundwater as irrigation water to be determined. The evaluation provides a reference for the protection and scientific development of shallow groundwater in mining areas
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