Investigating the quality of underground water in the alluvial plain of Urmia by using multivariate statistical methods and hydrogeochemical processes

Authors

1 Investigating the quality of underground water in the alluvial plain of Urmia by using multivariate statistical methods and hydrogeochemical processes

2 Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

3 Master of Economic Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Urmia University

Abstract

excessive exploitation of underground water resources due to increasing urbanization and agricultural activities, has led to a hadrochemical changes of underground water. This study was conducted on the quality of underground water and hydrogeochemical processes (evolution and origin) in the alluvial plain of Urmia, located in West Azarbaijan province, northwestern Iran. SPSS and GIS software were used for data analysis. Based on the Piper diagram, two types of groundwater were identified, according to which the type and facies of 67% of the samples are calcic bicarbonate and 17% of the samples are magnesic bicarbonate. The correlation of bicarbonate with total dissolved solids parameter is (R=0.858), chlorine (R=0.86), sulfate (R=0.885), magnesium (R=0.922), calcium (R=0.819), potassium (R=0.532) and sodium (R=0.756). Examining the correlations between elements and total dissolved solids parameter (R<0.5) indicates geochemical interactions such as oxidation-reduction and ion exchange processes in groundwater samples. The methods of principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis in order to define the main control factors affecting the hydrochemistry of Urmia alluvial plain showed that the water samples have different evolutions. Three clusters were found in the cluster analysis, the first cluster was 17.7% of the samples with an average total dissolved solids of 1214.2 mg/liter, the second cluster was 31.6% of the samples with an average total dissolved solids of 697.9 mg/liter (the most mineralization), and the third cluster was 51.6% of the samples with an average total Dissolved solid of 431.6 mg/liter (the least mineralization). Two main components were extracted by the method of Principal Component analysis, which represent 75.6% of the total variance. The presence of evaporite minerals, especially gypsum and halite, infiltration of salt water from Urmia Lake, ion exchange and weathering of calcite and dolomite minerals are the sources of elements in the alluvial plain of Urmia.

Keywords

New Findings in Applied Geology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 30 July 2023

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History

  • Receive Date: 11 May 2023
  • Revise Date: 23 July 2023
  • Accept Date: 30 July 2023

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