Comprehensive studies of hydrogeochemical processes and quality status of groundwater with tools of cluster, grouping analysis, and fuzzy set method using GIS platform: a case study of Dalcheon in Ulsan City, Korea

Abstract

This research aimed at developing comprehensive assessments of physicochemical quality of groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes at Dalcheon in Ulsan City, Korea. The mean concentration of major ions represented as follows: Ca (94.3 mg/L) > Mg (41.7 mg/L) > Na (19.2 mg/L) > K (3.2 mg/L) for cations and SO4 (351 mg/L) > HCO3 (169 mg/L) > Cl (19 mg/L) for anions. Thematic maps for physicochemical parameters of groundwater were prepared, classified, weighted, and integrated in GIS method with fuzzy logic. The maps exhibited that suitable zone of drinking and irrigation purpose occupied in SE, NE, and NW sectors. The undesirable zone of drinking purpose was observed in SW and central parts and that of irrigation was in the western part of the study area. This was influenced by improperly treated effluents from an abandoned iron ore mine, irrigation, and domestic fields. By grouping analysis, groundwater types were classified into Ca(HCO3)2, (Ca,Mg)Cl2, and CaCl2, and CaHCO3 was the most predominant type. Grouping analysis also showed three types of irrigation water such as C1S1, C1S2, and C1S3. C1S3 type of high salinity to low sodium hazard was the most dominant in the study area. Equilibrium processes elucidated the groundwater samples were in the saturated to undersaturated condition with respect to aragonite, calcite, dolomite, and gypsum due to precipitation and deposition processes. Cluster analysis suggested that high contents of SO4 and HCO3 with low Cl was related with water-rock interactions and along with mining impact. This study showed that the effluents discharged from mining waste was the main sources of groundwater quality deterioration.

Groundwater quality assessment in Jirania Block, west district of Tripura, India, using hydrogeochemical fingerprints

“…In this plot, samples are equally distributed in class I and II, which indicate good permeability and the water can be used for irrigation. Table 4 shows the comparison of present study chemical composition of groundwater with few other parts of world and India regions [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. It is clearly noticed that the chemical concentration of West Tripura (present study) is much lower than the world and India regions.…”

Employing SWOT Analysis and Normal Cloud Model for Water Resource Sustainable Utilization Assessment and Strategy Development

“…It takes into consideration the problems of level judgment distortion due to the maximum membership degree law. Due to its easy operation, scientific results, and clear physical meaning, VFS is used very frequently in assessments [59][60][61][62].…”

Groundwater Mixing Process Identification in Deep Mines Based on Hydrogeochemical Property Analysis

“…There are four kinds of aquifer systems in the study area, including Cenozoic unconsolidated porous aquifers with the average thickness of [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] …”

“…Hydrogeochemical methodologies have been widely used to solve hydrogeological problems in mining [11][12][13][14], such as assessing the environmental effects of acid mine drainage (AMD) [2,[15][16][17][18][19][20], tracing the pollution sources in mining areas [21][22][23], and studying the leachate of mine tailings [24][25][26][27]. In order to investigate the evolution of the compositions in mining groundwater and the groundwater quality under the influence of ADM, the PHREEQC hydrogeochemical model and the expanded Durov diagram were performed in [28].…”