Occurrence of Uranium in Groundwater from Cuddalore District Tamil Nadu Aided by Geospatial and Statistical Techniques

Abstract

An attempt has been made to examine uranium distribution in groundwater from Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, India. Groundwater occurs under porous sedimentary, fractured, and weathered hard rock formations ranging in age from recent sediments to the oldest Archean formations. A total of 186 groundwater samples were collected during Pre- Monsoon (May) and Post-monsoon (January) and analyzed for major cations, anions, and uranium using standard procedures. Major anions and cations follow the order Cl- >H4SiO4>HCO3- >NO3- > Na+> Ca2+> Mg2+>K+>SO42- > F-> PO43- irrespective of seasons. Uranium in groundwater ranges from 0.1 micro gram per liter (µg/l ) to 24.67 µg/l with average 1.82 µg/l. The spatial representation maps isolated areas of higher and lower uranium and statistical analysis inferred uranium sources to the groundwater environment.