Abstract
In order to characterize the physicochemical quality of groundwater, and to examine the behavior of factors influencing water chemism in the Tebessa Plain, which is part of a semi-arid region located in the northeast of Algeria, physicochemical analyses were carried out on 32 water samples from the Mio-Plio quaternary water table. In the east of the study region, in the Djebissa area, most of the Triassic formations form a depression made up of masses of gypsiferous clay, where some outcrops of Triassic dolomites appear together with several blocks of carbonate rocks, torn off during the Aptian- Albian age. In the center and to the west of the plain, carbonate formations are represented by a significant layer of limestone marl and marl from the Cretaceous to Tertiary periods. The results obtained showed that the quality of the water is influenced by the heterogeneity of the geological formations. The concentrations of chlorides, sulphates, and sodium are high in the eastern part of the study area, which can be explained by the impact of gypsum formations, confirmed by the Sr<sup>2+</sup>/Ca<sup>2+</sup> ratio being greater than 3 ‰ for the majority of samples. In the wells of the Tebessa and Ain Chabro areas, the concentrations of calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonates increase due to the predominance of carbonate formations of borders. The use of the statistical tool confirmed the evaporitic origin of the anions, especially in the east of the study region.
Highlights
Groundwater is seen as an alternative solution to deal with problems of water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions and, this area of research has attracted many authors such as Rouabhia et al [2009, 2010] and Fehdi et al [2015, 2016], to study geology and water resources
The interpretations will be in accordance with the direction of flow, that is to say from east to west; from Djebissa to Ain Chabro via Tebessa, which corresponds to the center of the plain
A second intermediate zone lies in the Tebessa area, the center of the plain, where conductivity values oscillate between 400 and 1500 μS.cm-1
Summary
Groundwater is seen as an alternative solution to deal with problems of water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions and, this area of research has attracted many authors such as Rouabhia et al [2009, 2010] and Fehdi et al [2015, 2016], to study geology and water resources. Groundwater contains different types of minerals transported in solution, where the types and concentrations of these minerals are mainly conditioned by several factors such as rock chemistry, surface and groundwater interactions, geological setting (which offers a preferred path for groundwater flow) and any other source for water pollution. Groundwater chemistry represents the end product of the interaction between water and rocks from different geological eras. This explains why groundwater contains varieties of many dissolved chemical constituents with different types and concentrations. Alkaline earth elements (Ca2+ and Mg2+) and Alkaline elements (Na+ and K+) are generally produced by the weathering and erosion of carbonate and silicate minerals such as calcite, dolomite, and gypsum, OF GROUNDWATER: CASE STUDY OF THE TEBESSA PLAIN (NORTH-EAST ALGERIA)
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