Geochemical processes regulating groundwater chemistry with special reference to nitrate and fluoride enrichment in Chha
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Geochemical processes regulating groundwater chemistry with special reference to nitrate and fluoride enrichment in Chhatarpur area, Madhya Pradesh, India Ram Avtar • Pankaj Kumar • Akhilesh Surjan L. N. Gupta • Koel Roychowdhury
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Received: 29 March 2012 / Accepted: 15 January 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Abstract The present study focuses on the hydrogeochemical composition of groundwater in Chhatarpur area with special focus on nitrate and fluoride contamination, considering the fact that groundwater is the only major source of drinking water here. Carbonate and silicate mineral weathering followed by ground water–surface water interactions, ion exchange and anthropogenic activities are mainly responsible for high concentrations of cations and anions in the groundwater in the region. The average concentration of nitrate and fluoride found in 27 samples is 1.08 and 61.4 mg/L, respectively. Nitrate enrichment mainly occurs in areas occupied with intense fertilizer practice in agricultural fields. Since the area is not dominated by industrialization, the possibility of anthropogenic input of fluoride is almost negligible, thus the enrichment of fluoride in groundwater is only possible due to rock–water interaction. The highly alkaline conditions, which favor the fluorite dissolution, are the main process responsible for high concentration of fluoride.
R. Avtar A. Surjan K. Roychowdhury United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP), Tokyo, Japan P. Kumar (&) Institute of Science and Technology for Advance Studies and Research (ISTAR), Vallabh Vidyanagar 388120, Gujarat, India e-mail: [email protected] A. Surjan Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan L. N. Gupta Faculty of Science and Environment, Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, Chitrakoot 485780, Madhya Pradesh, India
Keywords Chhatarpur District Groundwater quality Nitrate Fluoride Hydrogeochemistry
Introduction The groundwater resources are under huge risk due to speedy population growth, industrialization, intensive agriculture, urbanization and changing land use pattern, which in turn is endangering the water resources in terms of quality and quantity. The variation in the groundwater quality in an area is a function of physical and chemical parameters. These parameters are greatly influenced by geological formations and anthropogenic activities (Subramani et al. 2005). Groundwater chemical signature mainly depends on the interaction pattern with aquifer minerals or by internal mixing among different groundwater along flow paths in the subsurface (Domenico 1972; Datta et al. 1996; Belkhiri et al. 2011). The groundwater quality is also strongly affected by change in land use/land cover pattern (Basnyat et al. 1999; Roth et al. 1996; Osborne and Wiley 1988). Therefore, assessment of groundwater quality is needed to ensure its safer use (Vijith and Satheesh 2007). The pesticides and fertilizers used in agriculture to increase the production causes degradation of wate
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