Water and sediment quality assessment in the mid-Black Sea coast of Turkey using multivariate statistical techniques

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the water and sediment quality in the mid-Black Sea coast of Turkey. The samples were collected from six stations during 2007. Investigated parameters were total carbon (TC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), total organic carbon (TOC), ammonium-nitrogen (NH 4 -N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 -N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO 2 -N), total phosphorus (TP), sulphate, total hardness, methylene blue active substances (MBAS), phenol, adsorbable organic halogens (AOX), dissolved oxygen (DO), pH and electrical conductivity (EC) in water samples and TC, TIC, TOC, TP, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), redox potential (Eh) and water content (WC) in sediment samples. Different multivariate statistical techniques were used to evaluate variations in surface water and sediment quality. Principal component analysis helped in identifying the factors or sources responsible for water and sediment quality variations. Five factors were found responsible for 87.63% of the total variance in the surface waters. In sediments, three factors explained 84.73% of the observed total variance. Cluster analysis classified the monitoring sites into two groups based on similarities of water and sediment quality characteristics.

Assessment of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation use in shallow hard rock aquifer of Pudunagaram, Palakkad District Kerala

“…Recently various researchers have carried out groundwater study for drinking and irrigation water standards using different indices and plots (Rao and Rao 2010;Rao et al 2012;Bhardwaj and Sen Singh 2011;Prasanna et al 2011;Akbal et al 2011;Nosrati and Van Den Eeckhaut 2012;Sharma et al 2012;Gupta et al 2012). Besides these, Machender et al (2013) have carried out groundwater and surface water study in a Chinnearu river basin to distinguish the groundwater and surface water for drinking and irrigation use.…”

Evaluation of Factors Influencing the Groundwater Chemistry in a Small Tropical Island of Malaysia

“…In addition, complex interactions of multiple factors such as geology, mineral composition of an aquifer, weathering, water-rock interactions, topography, tidal effects, climate and anthropogenic activities are important determinants of groundwater quality [6,7,8]. Therefore, effective pollution control and sustainable water resources management are necessary to tackle such challenges of water quality [9]. These require a lot of research work that can provide an in-depth understanding of the current quality situation and of any factors influencing the groundwater chemistry [10], which is sadly lacking [11]; thus very little is known about the hydrochemistry status of groundwater in small tropical islands [5].…”

“…Multivariate statistical analyses such as principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) provide a reliable alternative approach for understanding and interpreting the complex system of water quality with the capability of analyzing large amounts of data [9] and distinguishing complex relationships among many variables [12]. As such, multivariate statistical analysis has been used by many researchers all over the world to analyze water quality.…”

“…In northeastern Tunisia, Tlili-Zrelli et al [14] used multivariate statistical analyses, combining PCA and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to investigate natural and anthropogenic processes controlling the groundwater mineralization and quality. Multivariate statistical analysis was also used by Akbal et al [9] to study water and sediment quality on the mid-Black sea coast of Turkey. By applying PCA, they were able to extract five and three factors that were responsible for 87.63% and 84.73% of the total variations in surface water and sediments, respectively.…”

Heavy Metals and Major Ionic Pollution Assessment in Waters of Midstream of the River Karatoa in Bangladesh

“…are usually present in water at low concentration, but enhanced concentration of these metals have found as a result of human activities. Investigation have been made in different countries by different researchers on the extent of heavy metals pollution in surface water, ground water, soil, sediments and vegetation (Zakir et al, 2006;Mohiuddin et al, 2010;Akbal et al, 2011;Zakir et al, 2011;Shikazono et al, 2012).…”