Abstract
The present study seeks to evaluate the hydrogeochemistry of Tabriz plain in NW Iran, through major ion chemistry and their spatial variations. In order to accomplish these, groundwater sampling from 30 shallow and deep wells in the plain were carried out in July 2012. The water samples were analyzed for various physicochemical parameters such as pH, EC, Na+, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, Cl−, CO32−, HCO3−, SO42− and NO3−. Chadha’s diagram demonstrates that most of the groundwaters belonged to the Na–Cl and mixed Ca–Mg–Cl hydrochemical facies. The concentrations of some major ions in groundwater are above the permissible limit for drinking and domestic purposes except for a few locations. The results of saturation index computation show that dissolution of gypsum, anhydrite, halite and silicate minerals occurs frequently across the study area, whereas the groundwater is supersaturated with regard to calcite and dolomite. Cross-plots show that weathering and dissolution of different rocks and minerals, ion exchange, reverse ion exchange and anthropogenic activities, especially agricultural activities, are effective in hydrogeochemistry of the study area.
Highlights
Groundwater resources are important for the socio-economic development, especially in arid and semi-arid regions (Tlili-Zrelli et al 2012)
The groundwater quality, which is normally controlled by variable physicochemical characteristics, is the outcome of all those processes and reactions that act on water from the moment it condenses in the atmosphere till the time it is exploited by a well (Arumugam and Elangovan 2009)
Na? and Cl- are strongly correlated with total dissolved solids (TDS) with an R2 of 0.9374 and 0.9739, respectively, which indicates that these ions are the most effective in the mineralization and salinization of the groundwater of the study area
Summary
Groundwater resources are important for the socio-economic development, especially in arid and semi-arid regions (Tlili-Zrelli et al 2012). Hydrogeochemical evaluation of groundwater systems is usually based on the availability of a large amount of information concerning groundwater chemistry Many factors such as climate, soil type, mineralogy of the rock types forming catchments and aquifers, area topography, overlying land uses, source of recharge water, atmospheric inputs, etc., may affect groundwater chemistry (Reghunath et al 2002; Singh et al 2004; Tziritis et al, 2016). In addition to these factors, the interaction between surface and groundwaters as well as the groundwater mixing of different origins and characteristics may have a significant impact on hydrogeochemistry (Reghunath et al 2002). In particular molar ion ratios, is useful in assessing the sources of solutes and characterizing hydrogeochemical origin
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