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Hydrogeochemical genesis of groundwaters with abnormal fluoride concentrations from Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province, central China

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Abstract

The groundwaters from Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province of central China, have high fluoride concentration up to 3.67 mg/L, and cases of dental fluorosis have been found in this region. To delineate the nature and extent of high fluoride groundwaters and to assess the major geochemical factors controlling the fluoride enrichment in groundwater, 14 groundwater samples and 5 Quaternary sediment samples were collected and their chemistry were determined in this study. Some water samples from fissured hard rock aquifers and Quaternary aquifers have high fluoride concentrations, whereas all karst water samples contain fluoride less than 1.5 mg/L due to their high Ca/Na ratios. For the high fluoride groundwaters in the fissured hard rocks, high HCO3 − concentration and alkaline condition favor dissolution of fluorite and anion exchange between OH− in groundwater and exchangeable F− in some fluoride-bearing minerals. For fluoride enrichment in groundwaters of Quaternary aquifers, high contents of fluoride in the aquifer sediments and evapotranspiration are important controls.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (No. 2007ABA312), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40702041 and 40425001), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 200801333), Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources (No. GPMR200714), and Open Fund of MOE Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology (No. BGEGF200813). The manuscript benefited a lot from the constructive comments of an anonymous reviewer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Qinghai Guo & Yanxin Wang

  2. Affiliated Hospital of Jingmen University, 448000, Jingmen, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Qingshan Guo

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  1. Qinghai Guo
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  2. Yanxin Wang
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Correspondence to Qinghai Guo.

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Guo, Q., Wang, Y. & Guo, Q. Hydrogeochemical genesis of groundwaters with abnormal fluoride concentrations from Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province, central China. Environ Earth Sci 60, 633–642 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-009-0203-5

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