Source speciation resolving hydrochemical complexity of coastal aquifers.
There is a growing concern of seawater intrusion to freshwater aquifers due to groundwater overexploitation in the eastern coastal belt of Southern India. The problem becomes complex in the regions where industrial effluents are also contaminating the freshwater aquifers. In order to understand the hydrochemical complexity of the system, topographic elevation, static water level measurements, major ion chemistry, ionic cross plots, water type contours and factor analysis were applied for 144 groundwater samples of shallow and deep sources from Quaternary and Tertiary coastal aquifers, located within the industrial zone of 25 km(2) area near Cuddalore, Southern India. The ionic cross plots indicates dissolution of halite minerals from marine sources and seawater mixing into inland aquifers up to the level of 9.3%. The factor analysis explains three significant factors totaling 86.3% of cumulative sample variance which includes varying contribution from marine, industrial effluent and freshwater sources.
Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 500 007, India. Electronic address: sahebrao.ngri@gmail.com.
Sahebrao
S
Sonkamble
Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 500 007, India.
Subash
S
Chandra
Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 500 007, India.
Shakeel
S
Ahmed
Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 500 007, India.
R
R
Rangarajan
D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D007194:India; D054712:Salinity; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D012965:Sodium Chloride
Coastal aquifers; Hydrochemical complexity; Industrial effluent; Seawater mixing percentage; Source speciation; Southern India