Assessment of Contamination Risk in Salmas Aquifer for Contaminant from Geogenic Origin

Authors

1 Ph.D Candidate of Hydrogeology, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Iran

2 Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Iran

3 Prof., Dept. of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Iran

4 Assis. Prof., Dept. of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Merage, Iran

Abstract

Salmas plain aquifer is one of the aquifers in West Azerbaijan province, which is exposing to contamination risk of various contaminants from geogenic origin such as arsenic. This is due to hot springs and geological conditions of the area. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the contamination risk to arsenic contaminant and identification of high-risk areas in this aquifer. In this study, the contamination risk of Salmas aquifer was investigated using OSPRC method. In OSPRC method, the contamination risk investigated by considering the origin, source, pathways, receptor and consequence. In this method, the source of contamination was identified then specific vulnerability to arsenic contaminants as pathway was investigated using GMDH neural network model and six parameters of SPECTR method. The parameters of SPECTR method are slope, pH, electrical conductivity, hydraulic conductivity, water table and recharge. The testing RMSE and r values of the GMDH neural network model were 0.036 and 0.902, respectively. The contamination risk map was obtained by multiplying the specific vulnerability in the groundwater velocity. This map showed that the risk of contamination to arsenic contaminant is higher in the western and southwestern parts of the aquifer than the other parts of the aquifer. In general, the contamination risk of Salmas aquifer to the arsenic contaminants is very low.

Keywords

References

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Water and Soil Science
Volume 32, Issue 4
December 2022
Pages 47-59

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