Understanding groundwater chemistry using multivariate statistics techniques to the study of contamination in the Korba unconfined aquifer system of Cap-Bon (North-east of Tunisia)

Abstract

The Korba aquifer of Cap-Bon peninsula (North-east of Tunisia), which extends over 40 km and occupies an area of 438 km2, is of great economic importance. Its location in an often narrow plain with intense human activity (agriculture, industry, tourism, etc.) makes it particularly vulnerable from both a qualitative and quantitative alteration. The high salinization in some parts of the study area has been attributed to seawater intrusion process, because of the high and increasing contents of chloride ions and electric conductivity value distribution. However, recent studies of this aquifer have shown that the chemical characteristics of groundwaters are the result of different components: intruding seawater, direct cation exchange linked to seawater intrusion, dissolution processes associated with cations exchange and solute recycling through irrigation return flow. In this paper, we describe the hydrological processes in the Korba coastal plain...