Assessing the effective factors on groundwater quality of Meshgin-Shahr plain aquifer (Ardebil province) with emphasis on possible origin of some heavy metals

In recent decades, due to growth of population and qancequently increasing demand for drinking, agriculture and industry purposes has led to consider the groundwater as the most important resource of water in the area. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the quality of the groundwater in the area, along with its quantity. The objectives of this study are to investigate the possible origin of some heavy metals in the groundwater of Mashgin-Shahr plain using multivariate statistical methods including cluster analysis and factor analysis along with correlation coefficient as well as identification of factors affecting groundwater quality in the area. For this purpose, 25 groundwater samples were collected in October 2016, and measured with respect to pH, electrical conductivity, major (calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, sulfate, carbonate, and bicarbonate) and minor (nitrate, fluoride and silica) ions and some heavy metals/metalloid such as iron, manganese, aluminum, zinc, chromium, copper, cadmium, lead and arsenic. The analyzes show that processes such as weathering and dissolution of evaporatic and silicate formations, ion exchange and agricultural activities are effective on the groundwater quality of the area. The results of multivariate analysis show that most of the heavy are originated from volcanic formations in the area and salinity and acidity play an important role in releasing them into the groundwater. Factor analysis indicates that geogenic processes with a total of 79.9 % of variance and anthropogenic factors with a total of 6.6 % of variance control the groundwater chemistry.