Interpretation of groundwater chemistry by factor analysis technique

Abstract EN

-Fac to r anal ysis was applied to groundwater chemistry data of Khulais basin western Saudi Arabia to assess the usefulness of such method for interpreting the hydrochemical pro cesses .

Three factors were retained .

The first two factor s were aLleCJ.uatc' for describing the groundwater chemistr y proce sses that have taken place in th e area.

These processes are: (I) groundwutcr mineralization du e to evaporation .

and min er al dissolution pr oce sses which arc considered the most imp ortant.

(2) processes o f dissolution and precipitation of carbonate min erals .

Fact or analysis also provides a mechanism 10 idcnlify the independent variahlcs and help in delineation of highly min eralized ZOI1C~ already recognized in previous works.