Hydrogeochemical processes in the groundwater envi

Authors: Manish Kumar Kalpana Kumari Umesh Kumar Singh AL Ramanathan

Publish Date: 2008/05/21

Volume: 57, Issue: 4, Pages: 873-884

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Abstract

Understanding the hydrogeochemical processes that govern groundwater quality is important for sustainable management of the water resource A study with the objective of identifying the hydrogeochemical processes and their relation with existing quality of groundwater was carried out in an intensively cultivated district of Punjab India The study approach includes conventional graphical plots and multivariate analysis of the hydrochemical data to define the geochemical evaluation of aquifer system based on the ionic constituents water types hydrochemical facies and factors controlling groundwater quality The results suggest that different natural hydrogeochemical processes like simple dissolution mixing weathering of carbonate minerals locally known as “kankar” silicate weathering and ion exchange are the key factors in the premonsoon which was superseded by leaching processes loaded with anthropogenic inputs in the postmonsoon Limited reverse ion exchange has been noticed at few locations of the study area especially in premonsoon periods There was a significant effect of monsoon observed in terms of hardness and the significant amount of area with temporary hardness Ca2+–Mg2+–HCO 3 type in the premonsoon switched to permanent hardness domain ie Ca2+–Mg2+–Cl− type by the postmonsoon At most factor analyses substantiate the findings of conventional graphical plots and provide greater confidence in datainterpretation Thus the study highlights the descriptive capabilities of conventional and multivariate techniques as effective tools in groundwater evaluationThe authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive and useful suggestions Author MK thanks Council of Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR India for financial grant through research fellowship The authors also acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology DST and TIFACITSAP Government of India for partial funding Authors also like to thank Rita Chauhan and Gurmeet Singh for their able contributions at different stages of manuscript writing At last we would like to thank Dr Roger Herbert Jr for his useful comments on first draft of manuscript

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