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Groundwater Chemistry of the Mornag Aquifer System in NE Tunisia
Author(s) -
Farhat Boutheina,
Mammou Abdallah Ben,
Kouzana Lamia,
Chenini Ismail,
Podda Francesca,
De Giudici Giovanni
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
resource geology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1751-3928
pISSN - 1344-1698
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-3928.2010.00142.x
Subject(s) - aquifer , groundwater , geology , geochemistry , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental chemistry , geotechnical engineering , chemistry
The present paper investigates hydrochemical processes and water quality in the Mornag aquifer in NE Tunisia. Groundwater samples were collected during a field campaign, and were analysed for major and trace elements. The collected waters have a chemical facies rich in Ca 2+ , Na + and Cl ‐ . Piper diagram shows a progressive increase in chloride ions along with increasing salinity. Saturation indexes calculated by using PHREEQC (USGS) show that the Mornag waters are slightly saturated with respect to carbonates (calcite and dolomite), while undersaturated with respect to gypsum, halite and other evaporitic minerals. The current composition of waters takes place via dissolution of halite and Ca‐sulfates, where the increase in calcium is partially balanced by possible calcite precipitation. The relevant recorded pollutant is nitrate, which was likely dispersed from agricultural soils, while heavy metals were generally far below values of pollution thresholds, indicating no influence by mining activity.