Hydrochemical assessment of the Jareh Dam water resources; using multivariate statistical techniques and hydrochemical methods

Jareh dam is located in the north east of Ramhormoz city, in Khuzestan province. In order to identify the main factors governing the hydrochemical changes and to recognize geochemical processes controlling the water resources of Jareh dam, hydrochemical analysis of twenty water samples was carried out. In this research, multivariate statistical techniques Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) in two ways, R-mod and Q-mod and principal component analysis (PCA), discrimination analysis (DA) along with hydrochemical methods have been used. Based on HCA founding, three different groups of water samples were observed according to PCA. The PCA illustrated that the first factor depicted 63.73%, and the second factor indicated 18.13% of the hydrochemical changes. The DA results confirmed the created groups by CA, Cl- and SO4-2 could be considered as determinative variables for differences between present groups. The Piper diagram was used to identify the water type and the group of samples, where most of them represent a sulfate-calcium type. The study of saturation indexes, ion ratios, Gibbs charts and the results of multivariate statistical techniques illustrates that breakup and erosion of sediments generated by the Gachsaran formation is the main factor for the deterioration of the Jareh dam water in the south-east zone.