Multivariate statistical analyzing of chemical parameters of groundwater in Vojvodina

Abstract

The geothermal waters of the Province of Vojvodina in northern Serbia, south part of the Pannonian Basin, are characterized by temperatures between 24 and 75°C. Dominant ions in these waters are sodium and bicarbonate, but the waters also contain significant amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, chlorides, and ammonium. Components that are of balneological significance include iodine, bromine, fluorine, strontium, lithium and barium, metasilicic and metaboric acids. Reported are the physicochemical parameters of this groundwater drilled from 200 to 1200m depth in Vojvodina's territory.Hydrogeochemical studies were carried out in this area with the objective of identifying the geochemical processes and their relation to groundwater quality. Weathering of silicate minerals controls the concentration of major ions such as sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium in the groundwater of this area. The reverse ion exchange process controls the concentration of calcium, magnesium and sodium in hard rock formations, and dissolution of carbonate minerals and accessory minerals is the source of Ca and Mg, in addition to cation exchange in the sedimentary formations. In general, the chemical composition of the groundwater in this area is influenced by rock–water interaction, dissolution and deposition of carbonate and silicate minerals and ion exchange.An attempt has been made to study quality of groundwater using multivariate statistical technique such as cluster analyses. Hydrogeochemical data for 13 groundwater samples were subjected to correlation and R- and Q-mode cluster analysis, where R-mode analysis reveals the inter-relations among the variables studied, and Q-mode analysis reveals the inter-relations among the samples studied.