Assessment of water quality and pollution of the Lake Seyfe basin, Kırşehir, Turkey

Abstract

Lake Seyfe is located in a closed basin near Kırşehir in the central Anatolian region, Turkey. The aim of this study is to evaluate the groundwater quality and effects of lithogenic contamination carried out in the Lake Seyfe basin, which is represented by various lithologies and groundwater types. Seyfe, Horla and Akpınar springs are recharged through marbles at the western and southwestern of the basin are ultimately and discharged into the Kızılırmak Formation and Lake Seyfe. The waters of deep wells drilled into the marbles are of bicarbonate type (type I) in the Ca²⁺–Mg²⁺–HCO₃ ⁻ and Ca²⁺–HCO₃ ⁻ facies. Özlühüyük spring and waters from most of trenches and shallow wells, which are fed by the Kızılırmak Formation, have a mixed (type II) composition in the Ca²⁺–Mg²⁺–HCO₃ ⁻–Cl⁻ facies. Groundwater in the alluvium and Kızılırmak Formation along Lake Seyfe has a salty (type III) character in the Na⁺–Cl⁻ facies. The main reasons of formation and change of the groundwater salinity and hydrochemical facies in the Seyfe basin are causing the various (a) lithogenic pollution and heterogeneity of the Kızılırmak Formation, (b) salinity of the upper soil zones, and (c) evaporation of the trench and channel waters open to the atmosphere. Considering parameters such as sodium hazard, specific conductivity, bicarbonate and carbonate hazards, waters in the study area are generally suitable for agricultural usage.