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Geochemical Characterization of Surface Water and Groundwater in Soummam Basin, Algeria

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Abstract

Multivariate statistical methods and geochemical modeling were used to assess spatial variation of water quality of the Soummam basin, Algeria. The application of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) showed three main groups of samples. Group 1 samples are exclusively composed of surface water. Groups 2 and 3 samples consist of groundwater. Discriminant analysis assigned about 98.6% of the cases grouped by HCA. All groups are super-saturated with Ca-montmorillonite, dolomite, gibbsite, K-mica, kaolinite, and quartz, and all these groups are under-saturated with albite, anhydrite, anorthite, CO2(g), gypsum, halite, melanterite, and smithsonite. The results of analysis of variance indicate that the saturation indices of each of the mineral phases are significant except for chalcedony and quartz (p > 0.05). The results obtained by inverse geochemical modeling show the dissolution of albite, which justifies Na enrichment during the chemical evolution of groundwater. Calcite, dolomite, Ca-montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite, gibbsite, and K-mica are shown to have always precipitated.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank the members of Materials Technology and Process Engineering Laboratory, Bejaia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hydraulics Department, University of Hadj Lakhdar Batna, Batna, Algeria

    Lazhar Belkhiri

  2. Technical Sciences Department, Institute of Sciences, University of Akli Mohand Oulhadj, Bouira, Algeria

    Lotfi Mouni

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  1. Lazhar Belkhiri
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  2. Lotfi Mouni
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Correspondence to Lazhar Belkhiri.

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Belkhiri, L., Mouni, L. Geochemical Characterization of Surface Water and Groundwater in Soummam Basin, Algeria. Nat Resour Res 23, 393–407 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-014-9243-y

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