Delineation of trace metals contamination in groundwater using geostatistical techniques: A study on Dhaka City of Bangladesh

Due to over-exploitation and unsustainable groundwater resource management, Dhaka the capital city of Bangladesh has posed an alarming risk of elimination in terms of quantity and its quality. Therefore, this study intended to evaluate the threat of groundwater contamination by geostatistical approach considering several major trace elementals concentrations. Besides, a number of pollution evaluation indices i.e., single-factor pollution index (I), nemerow pollution index (NI), heavy metal evaluation index (HEI), and the degree of contamination (Cd) were also used to quantify the level of the studied trace metal pollution in groundwater. The results of best-fitted semivariogram model showed the moderate spatial dependence for Fe, NI, and HEI; and weak spatial dependence for Mn. From cross validation result, it was found that,…