A comparative study on evaluation of steady-state groundwater quality in Sirjan’s Golgohar mineral zone

Abstract

This study evaluates the Sirjan Golgohar Mineral Zone via preliminary statistics and exploratory-spatial data. Parameters of electrical conductivity (EC) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) were estimated at unknown points using the inverse distance weighted interpolation. The Wilcox diagram was applied to classify groundwater for agricultural purposes and revealed that the highest frequency of samples was in class C4S4, which meant that the water was of poor quality. The Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) was applied to assess industrial water quality. Except for one sample, the data demonstrated that water is corrosive in all cases. A high concentration of salts in water and soil harms agricultural product quality. The EC values were estimated with 100 simulations, considering the specifc networking in the study area and using the sequential Gaussian simulation process so that the obtained results are as close to reality as possible. EC was classifed to determine the water salinity, and tests revealed that 88 of the 114 samples had EC> 2250, the highest frequency. Also, the EC of several pumping wells has reached approximately 100000 μS/cm. Also, the salt fats’ existence in this region and sewage, agricultural, and mining activities will impact groundwater quality. The categorization was done to assess the SAR in the area, and tests revealed that 109 samples had values more than 26, indicating that soil quality had deteriorated. Since this area’s groundwater is used for mineral, industrial, irrigation, and drinking purposes, causes infuencing groundwater hydrogeochemistry and salinity should be evaluated