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Evaluation of groundwater quality in the Dibdibba aquifer using hydrogeochemical and isotope techniques (Basrah Province, Iraq)

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Abstract

The Dibdibba aquifer is considered to be the main source in the Al-Zubair area because agriculture depends on it to provide grazing water in the area. The groundwater well samples were collected from the shallow Dibdibba Aquifer in Basra Province, southern Iraq, through the dry and wet period for 37 water samples were collected, to investigate the water quality deterioration, which is a hydrogeochemical modeling study where used to represent the groundwater mixing evaluation. The physicochemical parameter results show the spatial and temporal variations along the groundwater flow path. A Durov diagram of the studied samples shows water type Na_SO4, which is represented by mixing waters that may be affected by dissolution. Inverse geochemical model ratio results of the groundwater well samples have shown high mixing ratios in the east and southeast regions of the study area. The stable isotope composition of groundwater samples indicated that the recharge source of the Dibdibba aquifer is meteoric water influenced by vapor water from the Arabian Gulf. The stable isotope results have shown that the enrichment of δ18O values is relatively linked with high salinity concentration and indicated the mixing between the upper unconfined and the lower confined, especially in the eastern and southern parts of the study area. These findings of geochemical modeling and isotopes indicated an increasing groundwater quality deterioration. Thus, we recommended avoiding these areas for intensive extraction of groundwater.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the General Commission for Groundwater/ Basra Branch especially Mr. Jabbar Al Saeedy, Mr. Ahmed Jaafar, Ammar AL Tameemi and Zuhair Ghazi AL Maslukhy for their supporting in perform chemical analysis. The authors are also pleased to thank the reviewers for their thoughtful, constructive, and useful comments, which greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geology Department, College of Science, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

    Inass A. Al-Mallah, Wasan S. Al-Qurnawi, Hussein B. Ghalib & Mariam H. Abdulameer

  2. Director of the Scholarships and Cultural Relations Department, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Baghdad, Iraq

    Hussein B. Ghalib

  3. Department of Marine Chemistry and Environmental Pollution, Marine Science Center, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

    Adnan B. Al Hawash

  4. Biology Department, College of Education - Qurna, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

    Adnan B. Al Hawash

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  1. Inass A. Al-Mallah
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  2. Wasan S. Al-Qurnawi
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  3. Hussein B. Ghalib
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  4. Adnan B. Al Hawash
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  5. Mariam H. Abdulameer
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Correspondence to Hussein B. Ghalib.

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Al-Mallah, I.A., Al-Qurnawi, W.S., Ghalib, H.B. et al. Evaluation of groundwater quality in the Dibdibba aquifer using hydrogeochemical and isotope techniques (Basrah Province, Iraq). Acta Geochim 41, 823–838 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-022-00549-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-022-00549-8

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