Identifying Effective Processes on Groundwater Chemistry of the Kordkandi-Duzduzan Plain Aquifer

Kordkandi-Duzduzan plain is located in East Azarbaijan province, Northwest of Iran. Groundwater is the most important source of agricultural and drinking water in the study area, due to scarcity of the suitable surface water resources. The aim of this study is to identify the effective processes on groundwater chemistry of the study area. For this purpose, 24 water samples were collected from groundwater resources in October 2015 and concentration of the major ions, nitrate, fluoride and silica were measured. The pH and electrical conductivity of the samples were measured in the field as well as in the laboratory. In this study, different bivariate and hydrochemical diagrams and principal component analysis were used to achieve the mentioned purpose. The results of the bivariate diagrams show that dissolution of minerals such as silicates, carbonates and evaporates and anthropogenic activities are the effective factors on groundwater chemistry of the region. The results of the principal component analysis show that three components with cumulative variance of 85.3% are effective in groundwater quality of the study area of which the first and third components are geogenic and the second component is anthropogenic.