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Hydrogeological and Geochemical Evidence for the Origin of Brackish Groundwater in the Shabestar Plain Aquifer, Northwest Iran
Citation:
Saberi Mehr, S., A. Asghari Moghaddam, AND M. Field. Hydrogeological and Geochemical Evidence for the Origin of Brackish Groundwater in the Shabestar Plain Aquifer, Northwest Iran. Sustainable Water Resources Management. Springer International Publishing AG, Cham (ZG), Switzerland, , 1381-1404, (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-017-0192-6
Impact/Purpose:
The peer-reviewed journal Sustainable Water Resources Management (SWAM) publishes articles that deal with the interface of water resources science and the needs of human populations, highlighting work that addresses practical methods and basic research in: management of groundwater and surface water resources quantity and quality; sustainability of water resources and water availability; water use and reuse including managed aquifer recharge and storage; geopolitical and socio-economic aspects of water-resource management; water development and human activity impacts on ecologic systems and human health, including, for example, agricultural and climatic impacts, subsurface waste storage and injection, geothermal energy development and subsurface energy storage.
Description:
Shabestar plain aquifer is located in the northeast of the hypersaline Urmia Lake, northwest Iran. There are two types of the aquifer in the plain: an unconfined aquifer that covers the plain and a confined aquifer that is just in the vicinity of the lake. In recent years, some of the agricultural wells have become salinized by saline water due to unrestricted groundwater pumping. Groundwater in the confined aquifer in comparison with the above unconfined aquifer is of good quality. The salty Urmia Lake is considered the most probable source of groundwater salinization. Other potential sources of groundwater salinization could include halite dissolution, and halite is exposed at the southern end of Shabestar plain, and evaporation from the shallow water table. The water samples, based on their total dissolved solid and chloride contents, are classified in the brackish group. The hydrogeological setting and boreholes log interpretation suggest that the saltwater is the result of Urmia Lake water that is entrapped within the fine-grained matrix from when the lake reached its greatest extent. The ratios of Na/Cl, Br/Cl, (Ca + Mg)/SO4, Mg/Cl, (2Ca + Na)/Cl and Rittenhouse diagram preclude halite dissolution as a salinity source and confirm that the lake water with the composition of seawater is the main cause of groundwater salinization. In addition, Li/Cl ratios indicate that the original briny water was somewhat affected by evaporation. However, the effect of evaporation was found to be, at most, a minor influence only.
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DOI: Hydrogeological and Geochemical Evidence for the Origin of Brackish Groundwater in the Shabestar Plain Aquifer, Northwest Iran