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Hydrogeochemical properties of groundwater in parts of Abakaliki City, southeastern Nigeria

Bernard I. Odoh, Ahamefula U. Utom, Hilary N. Ezeh and Boniface C. E. Egboka
Hydrogeochemical properties of groundwater in parts of Abakaliki City, southeastern Nigeria
Environmental Geosciences (June 2012) 19 (2): 53-61

Abstract

This study has evaluated the hydrogeochemistry of some parts of the aquifer underlying and near Abakaliki City, Nigeria, to better understand the local groundwater quality conditions. Twelve representative groundwater samples from water boreholes (wells) in the study area were analyzed for their hydrogeochemical properties: pH, electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, chemical oxygen demand, Ca (super 2+) , Mg (super 2+) , Na (super +) , K (super +) , HCO (super -) (sub 3) , SO (super 2-) (sub 4) , Cl (super -) , NO (super -) (sub 3) , and CO (super 2-) (sub 3) . The aquifer is situated in the fractured shales of Abakaliki Formation. The dominant ions in most samples are Ca (super 2+) , Mg (super 2+) , SO (super 2-) (sub 4) , and Cl (super -) . Furthermore, strong positive correlations exist between EC-TDS, Na (super +) -TDS, Mg (super 2+) -SO (super 2+) (sub 4) , and Ca (super 2+) -SO (super 2+) (sub 4) . Piper trilinear diagrams were used to classify the hydrogeochemical facies, which included Ca-Mg-Cl and Ca-Mg-Na-Cl-SO (sub 4) water types. Ratios of Na-Cl ranged from 0.12 to 0.73, with a mean of 0.55, which is consistent with those of fresh water. The results of this study indicate that the groundwater local to the Abakaliki City poses no threat to human consumption, health, or the environment because the concentrations of physicochemical parameters that can be used to evaluate drinking water quality are within the World Health Organization standard specification.


ISSN: 1075-9565
EISSN: 1526-0984
Serial Title: Environmental Geosciences
Serial Volume: 19
Serial Issue: 2
Title: Hydrogeochemical properties of groundwater in parts of Abakaliki City, southeastern Nigeria
Affiliation: Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Department of Geological Sciences, Awka, Nigeria
Pages: 53-61
Published: 201206
Text Language: English
Publisher: American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Division of Environmental Geosciences, Tulsa, OK, United States
References: 25
Accession Number: 2012-063290
Categories: Environmental geologyHydrochemistry
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 5 tables, sketch maps
N06°18'58" - N06°18'58", E08°07'01" - E08°07'01"
N06°13'60" - N06°24'00", E08°00'00" - E08°11'60"
Secondary Affiliation: Ebonyi State University, NGA, Nigeria
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2017, American Geosciences Institute. Reference includes data from GeoScienceWorld, Alexandria, VA, United States. Reference includes data supplied by American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, OK, United States
Update Code: 201233
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