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Sea water intrusion studies near Kovaya limestone mine, Saurashtra coast, India

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Abstract

The Kovaya Limestone Mine is situated on the Saurashtra coast of India. Though the mine is dependent on the desalination plant installed in the plant for its domestic and industrial water requirements, there is significant withdrawal of groundwater by the large number of bore wells and open wells, which are present in the agricultural fields lying in and around the leased area of the mine. The heavy withdrawal of groundwater has led to intrusion of seawater. The present work entails study of possible seawater intrusion by chemical analysis of major cations and anions in selected groundwater samples. Very high total dissolved solids in the range of >1,000 mg/l and high chloride in the range of 103 mg/l to 3,899 mg/l have been measured in the groundwater samples. ‘Resistivity Imaging Survey’ has also been carried out on selected profiles in the study area. The Electrical Resistivity Tomography images indicate very low resistivity zones (~0–3 Ω m) in the bottom portion of the resistivity depth section. These low resistivity zones can be interpreted to be due to seawater intrusion. The resistivity sections on the excavated Pits, where mining is going on, indicate possibilities of seawater intrusion. Hence, protection from seawater intrusion is recommended through restriction of mining up to the safe level.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440 020, India

    Paras R. Pujari

  2. CIMFR Regional Centre, Seminary Hills, Nagpur, 440 006, India

    Abhay K. Soni

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  1. Paras R. Pujari
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  2. Abhay K. Soni
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Correspondence to Paras R. Pujari.

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Pujari, P.R., Soni, A.K. Sea water intrusion studies near Kovaya limestone mine, Saurashtra coast, India. Environ Monit Assess 154, 93–109 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-008-0380-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-008-0380-9

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