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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Study on the Hydrochemical Characteristics
and Environmental Background Values
of Shallow Groundwater in the Qian’an
Basin of Tangshan City, China
1
Institute of Disaster Prevention, Sanhe 065201, China
2
Hebei Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Disaster Mechanism and Risk Monitoring, Sanhe 065201, China
3
Beijing Disaster Prevention Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing 101199, China
4
CECEP DADI (Hangzhou) Envrionment Remediation Co., Ltd, Beijing, China
5
Hebei Geological Environment Monitoring Institute, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
Submission date: 2025-04-22
Final revision date: 2025-08-10
Acceptance date: 2025-09-13
Online publication date: 2025-12-01
Corresponding author
KEYWORDS
Qian’an basingroundwater environmental background valuesshallow groundwaterhydrochemical characteristics
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study is based on 63 sets of groundwater samples from the Qian’an Basin to calculate
the environmental background values of groundwater, focusing on total dissolved solids (TDS), total
hardness, and NO3
⁻. Mathematical statistical methods were employed to identify and remove outliers.
Ion correlation analysis and ratio plots were also used to investigate the chemical composition, formation
mechanisms, and background values of the groundwater while analyzing the spatial distribution
characteristics of these background values.
The research results showed that the dominant cations in the groundwater were Ca²⁺, followed by Mg²⁺, while the main anions were HCO₃-and SO₄²⁻. The hydrochemical types were classified as HCO₃-Ca·Mg and HCO₃SO₄-Ca·Mg, indicating that the dissolution of carbonate rocks played a dominant role in controlling the groundwater chemistry. The background value thresholds of total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, and NO3- were calculated to be 162-729.95 mg/L, 122.05-508.55 mg/L, and 0.002-32.62 mg/L. The background values of TDS and total hardness showed no significant spatial variation overall. In contrast, the background values for NO3- were higher and exhibited clear spatial variability, indicating that human activities influenced the groundwater. The study identified the hydrochemical and environmental background characteristics of shallow groundwater in the Qian’an Basin, deepening the understanding of the groundwater quality formation and evolution mechanisms in the region compared to previous studies and providing important support for the sustainable development of regional groundwater.
The research results showed that the dominant cations in the groundwater were Ca²⁺, followed by Mg²⁺, while the main anions were HCO₃-and SO₄²⁻. The hydrochemical types were classified as HCO₃-Ca·Mg and HCO₃SO₄-Ca·Mg, indicating that the dissolution of carbonate rocks played a dominant role in controlling the groundwater chemistry. The background value thresholds of total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, and NO3- were calculated to be 162-729.95 mg/L, 122.05-508.55 mg/L, and 0.002-32.62 mg/L. The background values of TDS and total hardness showed no significant spatial variation overall. In contrast, the background values for NO3- were higher and exhibited clear spatial variability, indicating that human activities influenced the groundwater. The study identified the hydrochemical and environmental background characteristics of shallow groundwater in the Qian’an Basin, deepening the understanding of the groundwater quality formation and evolution mechanisms in the region compared to previous studies and providing important support for the sustainable development of regional groundwater.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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