Journal of Environmental Hydrology
ISSN 1058-3912


Electronic Journal of the International Association for Environmental Hydrology
JEH Volume 20 (2012), Paper 12    Posted September 27, 2012
INTERPRETATION OF GROUNDWATER QUALITY USING FACTOR ANALYSIS, WADI RABIGH AREA, WESTERN SAUDI ARABIA

Masoud E. Al-Ahmadi

Hydrogeology Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
Groundwater is an important resource for people in the Wadi Rabigh area, which lies in the Western Saudi Arabia. It is necessary to assess its quality for suitable exploitation. For this purpose, physical and chemical analyses from 23 groundwater samples are carried out during this study to determine various groundwater qualtity parameters. After the collection of data, factor analysis (FA) is applied to identify and understand hydrochemical association and processes leading to the variability of groundwater quality without losing any information in the input pattern and avoiding limitations that are associated with classical methods. The FA includes R and Q modes, which are applied to groundwater samples collectively so as to identify significant factors leading to meaningful quality interpretations. Objective analyses led to two factors that explain 80.6% of the total variance in the groundwater quality data. The first factor reveals 48% of the total variance dominated by Ca, Mg, Na, SO4, Cl, NO3, EC, TDS and TH which suggest effects from water soil/rock interaction and agricultural activity. The second factor shows high loading of Na, and moderate loading of SO4, Cl, Mg, EC, whereas TDS suggests chemical weathering processes in the study area.
Reference: Al-Ahmadi, M.E. 2012. Interpretation of groundwater quality using factor analysis, Wadi Rabigh area, Western Saudi Arabia. Journal of Environmental Hydrology, Vol. 20, Paper 12.
CONTACT:
Masoud E. Al-Ahmadi
Hydrogeology Department
King Abdulaziz University
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
E-mail: m_al_ahmadi@yahoo.com


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