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An Anomalous Occurrence of Sodium Bicarbonate Water in a Flood Plain in a Carbonate Terrane
Author(s) -
Krothe Noel C.,
Parizek Richard R.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1979.tb03360.x
Subject(s) - carbonate , groundwater recharge , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , surface runoff , bicarbonate , groundwater , aquifer , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , ecology , biology
Geochemical factors controlling water chemistry in an influent stream and adjacent flood‐plain sediments were determined during a four‐year study. The stream has a drainage basin that is similar to many streams draining carbonate terranes in the eastern United States. It receives sewage effluent, farm and urban runoff and supplies recharge to an aquifer under extensive development. Water beneath the flood plain, springs, and channel were calcium bicarbonate as expected; however, the prevalent chemical character of soil water beneath the channel was sodium bicarbonate. HCO 3 within soil water beneath the stream is three times (1,500 mg/l) that beneath the flood plain, Na + is two orders of magnitude greater (400 mg/l), K + reaches 10 mg/l which is twice as great while CA 2+ and Mg 2+ may be one‐fifth as high as concentrations beneath the flood plain with ranges from 15 to 20 mg/l and 5 to 10 mg/l respectively. Waters 3 to 7 feet (0.9 to 2.1 m) below the flood plain contain intermediate Na + values from 25 to 75 mg/l. Ion exchange appears to be the mechanism accounting for the sodium bicarbonate water observed under the channel. The same relationship should occur in other areas with available carbonate rock, base exchange minerals, and an organic source.