Groundwater quality in some Voltaian and Birimian aquifers in northern Ghana—application of mulitvariate statistical methods and geographic information systems

Autor: Sandow Mark Yidana, Bruce Banoeng-Yakubo, Thomas M. Akabzaa, Abdul-Samed Aliou
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: Hydrological Sciences Journal. 57:1168-1183
ISSN: 2150-3435
0262-6667
Popis: Groundwater is a priceless resource in the economies of the rural populations in northern Ghana. A combination of multivariate statistical and spatial analytical techniques was applied to groundwater data from the Voltaian and Birimian aquifers in parts of northern Ghana. The objective was to classify the groundwater quality control parameters and determine whether the aquifers deliver groundwater of acceptable quality for domestic and commercial irrigation purposes. It was found that groundwater quality is dominated by the weathering of accessory minerals that are predominant in the Obosum and Oti beds of the Middle Voltaian in the north, and incongruent silicate mineral weathering ranks second among the major causes of variation. The two processes account for over 70% of the total variance in the hydrochemistry and interpolation maps generated for these two major factors are discussed. The mineral weathering and dissolution processes are less apparent within the Birimian aquifers. Four spatial ...
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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