Spatial Variability of Hydro-chemical Classification Indicators of Well Water in Erbil Governorate

Abstract

This study focused on the hydro-chemical classification indicators of 150 well water samples from Erbil Governorate, according to Scholler’s classification (1972), based on the assumption that spatial variation exists in the aforementioned classification indicators, the study aimed to determine the values of the major positive and negative chemical ions in the groundwater of the study area through laboratory analysis, and to identify the hydro-chemical classification of these wells in order to demonstrate their spatial variability and assess the validity of the research hypothesis. This was achieved by employing the descriptive and analytical approaches, field investigation, and spatial analysis techniques within the GIS environment using (ArcGIS 10.8). The study concluded that there is a spatial variation in the Scholler classification indicators for the groundwater wells in the study area. It was found that 78.7% of the samples were bicarbonate-type waters, 19.3% were sulphate-type waters, and 2% were chloride-type waters. Additionally, calcium bicarbonate waters ranked first with 85 wells, followed by magnesium bicarbonate waters with 22 wells, and calcium sulphate waters with 19 wells.