Factors controlling groundwater quality in the Yeonjegu District of Busan City, Korea, using the hydrogeochemical processes and fuzzy GIS

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 24; no. 30; pp. 23679 - 23693
• Main Authors: Venkatramanan, Senapathi, Chung, Sang Yong, Selvam, Sekar, Lee, Seung Yeop, Elzain, Hussam Eldin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Aquifers; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Calcium chloride; Chemical analysis; Chemical precipitation; Coastal aquifers; Contaminants; Contamination; Dissolution; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Evaporation; Factor analysis; Fresh Water; Fuzzy control; Geochemistry; Geographic Information Systems; Geology; Groundwater; Groundwater - analysis; Groundwater pollution; Groundwater quality; Hydrogeochemistry; Intrusion; Ions; Ions - analysis; Minerals - analysis; Pollution sources; Quality; Republic of Korea; Research Article; Rivers; Rocks; Saline water intrusion; Seawater; Sodium chloride; Waste Water Technology; Water analysis; Water Management; Water pollution; Water Pollution Control; Water quality; Weathering; South Korea; Piper’s diagram; Groundwater quality; Factor analysis; Fuzzy GIS; Saturation index; Hydrogeochemical processes
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-9990-5

The hydrogeochemical processes and fuzzy GIS techniques were used to evaluate the groundwater quality in the Yeonjegu district of Busan Metropolitan City, Korea. The highest concentrations of major ions were mainly related to the local geology. The seawater intrusion into the river water and municipal contaminants were secondary contamination sources of groundwater in the study area. Factor analysis represented the contamination sources of the mineral dissolution of the host rocks and domestic influences. The Gibbs plot exhibited that the major ions were derived from the rock weathering condition. Piper’s trilinear diagram showed that the groundwater quality was classified into five types of CaHCO 3 , NaHCO 3 , NaCl, CaCl 2 , and CaSO 4 types in that order. The ionic relationship and the saturation mineral index of the ions indicated that the evaporation, dissolution, and precipitation processes controlled the groundwater chemistry. The fuzzy GIS map showed that highly contaminated groundwater occurred in the northeastern and the central parts and that the groundwater of medium quality appeared in most parts of the study area. It suggested that the groundwater quality of the study area was influenced by local geology, seawater intrusion, and municipal contaminants. This research clearly demonstrated that the geochemical analyses and fuzzy GIS method were very useful to identify the contaminant sources and the location of good groundwater quality.