Hydrology
Somayeh Esmaeili; Rahim Barzegar; Naeimeh Kazemian
Abstract
Qareh-Ziaeddin plain is located in the West Azarbaijan province, Northwest of Iran. The aim of this study is to investigate the effective factors and processes on the groundwater chemical quality of Qareh-Ziaeddin plain. For this purpose, 20 water samples were collected from groundwater resources in ...
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Qareh-Ziaeddin plain is located in the West Azarbaijan province, Northwest of Iran. The aim of this study is to investigate the effective factors and processes on the groundwater chemical quality of Qareh-Ziaeddin plain. For this purpose, 20 water samples were collected from groundwater resources in November 2016 and the concentration of the major ions, nitrate and silica was measured. Also, the pH and electrical conductivity of the samples were measured in the field. In this study, different bivariate and hydrochemical diagrams, chloro-alkaline index, saturation index and inverse modeling were used to achieve the mentioned goal. The results of the bivariate diagrams show that the saltwater intrusion from irrigation return flows, cation exchange, weathering and dissolution of rock minerals specially carbonates, silicates, gypsum and halite, and evaporation process, in a small amount, are the effective factors on the chemical quality of the groundwater in the study area. The calculated Chloro-alkaline indices indicate that these indices are negative in all samples, which reveal the normal ion exchange. The water samples are super-saturated with regards to the carbonate and quartz minerals, whereas are under-saturated with respect to the sulfate and halite minerals. The results of inverse geochemical modeling confirm weathering and dissolution of the carbonate, sulfate and halite minerals and ion exchange in different parts of the aquifer.
