Paper
Chemometric and GIS Based Analysis of Geogenic Augmentation of Fluoride in Groundwater of Arid Region of India
- Authors:
- Chander Kumar Singh; Kumari Rina; J. Mallick; R.P. Singh; Neha Singh; S. Shashtri; S. Mukherjee
- Abstract
- Groundwater is the only available potable source of water for drinking, sanitation and other uses in this region of Thar Desert of India. The intention of this study was to assess the toxicity of fluoride in groundwater and to identify major factors controlling its occurrence. A total of 66 water samples were collected and analyzed from the study area. The analyzed water quality parameters formed the attribute database for statistical and GIS analysis. Chemometric analysis of the water quality parameters was done using factor analysis and principal component analysis to identify the major factors controlling the fluoride enrichment. Piper diagram was used to identify geochemical facies of groundwater samples and to determine the role of water facies for fluoride enrichment in the region. The principal component analysis of the water quality parameters resulted in three major factors which explained 73.65% of the total variance. The factors suggest that mineral dissolution, evaporation, reducing environment and ion exchange are the major processes controlling fluoride hydro-geochemistry. The study concludes that the water is not potable in most of the locations due to high fluoride concentration exceeding the limits as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) for drinking water.
- Keywords
- Groundwater; Fluoride, Rajasthan; Principal Component Analysis; Evaporation
- StartPage
- 24
- EndPage
- 29
- Doi