Hydrochemical characterization of groundwater system of biodiversity experimental field Jena, Germany

Hydrochemical modeling, graphical methods, and different statistical techniques were applied to understand the nature of geological and hydrochemical processes in a shallow groundwater aquifer of the Jena biodiversity experimental field. Factor and cluster analyses were used to identify the governing underlying processes and to detect the spatial similarity between the sampling points. The hydrochemical modeling, using PHREEQC, was used to interpret the reactive minerals. Results of factor analysis indicated that there are five dominant factors which account for about 90 % of the variance of the chemical dataset in the cold season (March, April, November) and warm season (June, August). Factor analysis showed that 43 % of the variation in the cold season and 53 % of the variation in the warm season of the groundwater hydrochemical data are due to major cations and anions which reveals groundwater-geological matrix interaction. Redox and redox-sensitive elements are the next important factors and account for 15 % and 19 % variation in the cold season and warm season, respectively. The hydrochemical modeling using PHREEQC and X-ray diffraction results showed that calcite, dolomite, quartz, and siderite are reactive minerals and are responsible for changes in chemical composition. The hydrochemical data of the two seasons were also compared and the results showed that the groundwater chemistry of the study area varied seasonally in terms of some parameters such as mainly heavy metals (Ba, B, Fe, Mn, U, V, Zn, Sr, Ni), HCO3 −, and DOC.