Investigation of hydrogeochemical characteristics and qualitative classification of Harzandat plain groundwater resources for various purposes, using hydrochemical methods

Inadequency of water resources or lack of appropriate resources have been among the challenges for human activities in the Harzandat plain due to shortage of rainfall. The purpose of this study was to evaluate geochemistry and hydrogeochemical anomalies and to determine groundwater usage (different uses for drinking, agriculture and industry) in the study area.
Due to the limited water resources in Harzandat plain, 16 groundwater samples were collected from wells, springs and qanats that sampling, and chemical analysis was carried out using standard procedures.
Findings: The results of the Piper diagram show that the dominant type of groundwater is saline water in Harzandat plain. Calculation of the saturation index shows the interaction between water and rock and the state of saturation and super saturation relative to dolomite, calcite and aragonite minerals. According to the qualitative classification, the water in the study area falls within the range of moderate levle, and from the agriculture view point it is brackish water and unsuitable for irrigation. For industrial uses, some of the water resources have incrustation properties and they are partly corrosive, but most of the groundwater samples taken from the study area had incrustation properties and were unsuitable for industrial purposes.
The results indicated the poor quality of drinking water, agriculture and industry in the central and northern parts of the plain. Also, based on the results from the Gibbs diagram, processes such as chemical weathering of mineral constituents of rock and evaporation influence the quality of groundwater in Harzandat plain.