The suitability and determining factors of groundwater Origin in safwan –al zubair area, south of Iraq

Abstract EN

The study of groundwater quality involves a determination of the various constituents occurring in this groundwater and their relationships to the use of this groundwater.

So in order to evaluate the groundwater quality in the study area, twenty five groundwater samples are taken from twenty five wells distributed over the Safwan-Al Zubair area.

The results indicate that the groundwater in the studied region is unsuitable for human drinking and almost all the groundwater here is not suitable for poultry and horses also, but it is suitable for beef cattle and sheep.

The yield of vegetable crops such as Tomato, Lettuce and Onion may be reducing to 25% or more due to high salinity in the groundwater.

After studying the other factors which have affecting the suitability of groundwater for agriculture purposes such as sodium absorption ratio, Na%, bicarbonates and carbonates.

The results also show that this groundwater is suitable for agriculture purposes despite the high salinity of this water.

The hydrochemical ratios (rNa / rCl),(r(Na-Cl) / rSO4) and (rSO4 / rCl) are used to determinate the origin of this groundwater.

After comparing the values of these factors obtained in the studied area with the standard values, it appears that the origin of groundwater is divided into two types, marine and meteoric origin, and also it shows that it changes gradually from deep groundwater of marine origin to shallow one of meteoric origin