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Combined analyses of chemometrics and kriging for identifying groundwater contamination sources and origins at the Masan coastal area in Korea

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Abstract

Hydrogeochemical analyses including the basic statistics of chemical components, Piper’s trilinear diagram, and Mazor’s compositional bivariate diagram revealed that the main source and origin of groundwater contamination was seawater intrusion in the study area. However, the other sources and origins of groundwater contamination could be found by the combined analyses of chemometrics and kriging. Cluster analysis was helpful for the classification on the basis of the contamination characteristics of groundwater quality; however, it was not sufficient for the apportionment of groundwater contamination sources. Factor analysis (FA) determined three factors with 81.07% in total variance: Factor 1 for seawater contamination, Factor 2 for nitrate contamination, and Factor 3 for iron contamination. Factor analysis determined the sources of groundwater contamination; however, it could not discover the origins of contaminants except Factor 1. In backward stepwise mode, discriminant analysis decreased the number of parameters from 18 to 6 in discriminating the contaminant type with 96.2% correctness. TDS, Ca, NO3, Mn, Fe, and Br were the most significant parameters for the discrimination of contaminants. Kriging analysis was very useful for the understanding of correlation and similarity between contaminants and factors of FA, and for the investigation of contaminant origins. It also showed that the similarity between factor scores and contaminant concentrations was proportional to the magnitudes of factor loadings for contaminants. This study represented that the combined analyses of chemometrics and kriging were very indispensable to the identification of groundwater contamination sources and origins, as well as for the spatial classification and assessment of groundwater quality.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by a grant (code# 3-3-4) from Sustainable Water Resources Research Center of 21st Century Frontier Research Program (Korea).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Environmental Sciences, Pukyong National University, 599-1 Daeyeon-dong Nam-gu, Busan, 608-737, Korea

    Tae Hyung Kim & Sang Yong Chung

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Dong-A University, 840 Hadan-dong Saha-gu, Busan, 604-717, Korea

    Namsik Park

  3. Department of Geological Sciences, Pusan National University, 63 Jangjeon-dong Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 609-735, Korea

    Se-Yeong Hamm

  4. HLW Disposal Research Center, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Daedeok-daero Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Korea

    Seung Yeop Lee

  5. Radioactive Waste Technology Development Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Daedeok-daero Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Korea

    Byung-Woo Kim

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  1. Tae Hyung Kim
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  2. Sang Yong Chung
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  3. Namsik Park
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  4. Se-Yeong Hamm
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  5. Seung Yeop Lee
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Correspondence to Sang Yong Chung.

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Kim, T.H., Chung, S.Y., Park, N. et al. Combined analyses of chemometrics and kriging for identifying groundwater contamination sources and origins at the Masan coastal area in Korea. Environ Earth Sci 67, 1373–1388 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1582-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1582-6

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