Hydrogeochemical investigation of groundwater in Dhaka City of Bangladesh using GIS and multivariate statistical techniques

GIS and multivariate statistics along with the geochemical approaches were applied in this study to investigate the hydrogeochemical behavior, source apportionment of groundwater pollutants and their spatial distribution in the aquifer system of Dhaka City, Bangladesh. A total of 33 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed, in order to evaluate the geochemical constituents of groundwater. Results found that, the trends of cations and anions are Na+ > Mg2+ > Ca2+ > K+ and HCO3− > Cl− > SO42− > NO3− respectively, and Ca2+–Mg2+–HCO3− is the dominant groundwater type. Except Na+, K+, Cl−, F− and NO3− all others measured parameters fall within the permissible limits. However, silicate weathering was identified as the major processes of controlling the groundwater solute content. Besides,…