Investigation of groundwater hydrochemical characteristics using the multivariate statistical analysis in Ain Djacer area, Eastern Algeria

AbstractThe hydrochemical and multivariate statistical techniques such as the factor analysis (FA), the principal component analysis (PCA), and the cluster analysis (CA) were used to determine the main factors and mechanisms controlling groundwater chemistry of Ain Djacer Mio-Plio-Quaternary aquifer, Eastern Algeria. Twenty-one groundwater samples of this aquifer were monitored, during March 2013, with the objective of identifying the geochemical processes and their relation with groundwater quality as well as to get an insight into the hydrochemical evaluation of groundwater. The Piper diagram showed that water facies are of a Ca-HCO3-type near limestone limits and SO4–Na in the center part of the plain. The FA and the PCA revealed two factors that explained 65.1% of the total variance in water quality dataset. The first factor is salinization, which shows strong associations between total dissolved solids (TDS), , Cl–, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Na+. The second factor is mostly associated with chemical fertilizers...