Characterization of groundwater quality in Kinmen Island using multivariate analysis and geochemical modelling

Abstract

Abstract:Kinmen is located in the south-west of Mainland China and mainly has two islands, Large Kinmen and Leiyu. Residents in Kinmen have drunk groundwater over several decades. This work characterized the quality of groundwater in Kinmen using factor analysis (FA), cluster analysis (CA) and geochemical simulation. The factor scores were plotted spatially to illustrate the groundwater quality and were used to discuss the grouped relationship using CA. Salinization, redox and organic matter factors are identified from 17 hydrochemical measurements in 18 wells. Acidic and oxidizing groundwater with nitrate-N pollution is distributed mainly in the west of Large Kinmen. Saline groundwater is distributed to the north-east of Large Kinmen and in the south of Leiyu. Groundwater with organic matter is present throughout Leiyu. Five groups of the groundwater quality divided by CA can be interpreted according to one to three factors. The grouped characteristics of the groundwater quality help the local government and industries to plan the use and protection of groundwater resources. Furthermore, a geochemical simulation was used to demonstrate the formation processes of the acidic and oxidizing groundwater properties in granitic sediments. A large amount of the precipitation of the kaolinite and magnetite releases concentrations of hydrogen ion and raises the redox potential in the aquifers.

Evaluation of groundwater quality in the Chotanagpur plateau region of the Subarnarekha river basin, Jharkhand State, India

“…Generally, water supplies from groundwater are free from suspended and organic impurities due to natural filtration through soils and sediments (Karanth, 1989). Geochemical processes, regional geology and land use pattern are major factors for controlling groundwater chemistry (Matthess, 1982;Kumar, et al 2006;Liu, et al 2008;Zhu and Schwartz, 2011;Rajesh, et al 2012). The evaporation and irrigation return flow also influence major ion chemistry of groundwater (Stigtera, et al 1998;Hudak, 2000;Guo and Wang, 2004;Rajmohan and Elango, 2006).…”

Assessing nitrate contamination and its potential health risk to Kinmen residents

“…The groundwater property is characterized as acidic and oxidizing with nitrate-N contamination distributed in the west, and as neutral, saline and reducing distributed to the central and eastern Kinmen. The detailed characterization of groundwater quality can be found in Liu et al (2008). Aquifer vulnerability assessment are typically divided by three categories (1) overlay and index methods, (2) methods employing process-based simulation models, and (3) statistical methods (NRC 1993).…”

An Innovative Nitrate Pollution Index and Multivariate Statistical Investigations of Groundwater Chemical Quality of Umm Rijam Aquifer (B4), North Yarmouk River Basin, Jordan

“…According to Liu et al (2008), factor analysis and cluster analysis yield the common and similar relationships among hydrochemical variables by revealing multivariate patterns that may help classify the original data. Before analysis, the data used in the present study was subjected to standardization so as to increase the influence of variables whose variance is small, to reduce the impact of variables whose variance is large, to eliminate the influence of different units of measurement, and to render the data dimensionless (Dillon and Goldstein, 1984).…”