Article Details
ASSESSMENT OF METAL-METALLOID CONTENT USING GEOSTATISTICAL METHODS IN GROUNDWATER OF KARABAĞLAR POLJE (MUĞLA, TURKEY)
Indexed In
Volume 154 / 2017Authors:
Bedri KURTULUŞ, Çağdaş SAĞIR, Özgür AVŞARKeywords:
Groundwater, Heavy Metal, Muğla, Karst, GeostatisticAbstract:
In this research, heavy metals (Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd, Ba, Pb) and metalloids (As) which were sampled from 84 wells used as drinking water and irrigation water resources in Karabaglar Karstic Polje (Mugla, Turkey) were analyzed. The results were evaluated by different statistical methods in order to investigate the interaction between elements. Ti, Mn, Fe, Zn, Mo and Pb were detected in many wells. According to the results, As and Cu has the strongest correlation (R=0.832). As-Ni (R=0.789) and Cu-Ni (R=0.776) are the other strong correlations. The relationship between these elements were also shown by Cluster Analysis (CA). In respect to CA, the closest proximity distance matrix are found for these three elements. Also, elements composed 3 main clusters in dendrogram created from CA result matrix. These clusters match up with the findings of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) too. PCA gathers all elements up in 3 components: As, Cu and Ni at the first component; Mo and Cd at the second; Cr and Ba at the third. The accumulation of the elements studied were investigated by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. According to the results, the least and most encountered elements are Cu and Ba, respectively. The amount of each element except Ni and Mo, is statistical significantly different (p<0.05). In addition, the amount of the elements as well as some water quality parameters were compared to EPA (U. S. Environmental Protection Agency) and Turkish inland water quality classes and no threatening situation was encountered.
