Hydrogeochemical and Groundwater Quality Map of Margarita Island Venezuela
Ana Vilchez* and Ramón Montero
ABSTRACT
Groundwater on Margarita Island, Venezuela, constitutes a water source for domestic, livestock, and agricultural activities, which is important for the island's economy. Due to this, over the past decades, academic and government institutions studies have chemically characterized the groundwater in different basins on the island. The “Hydrogeochemical and Groundwater Quality Map of Margarita Island, Venezuela” integrates this information from 167 groundwater samples across nine basins into a single tool for the management and monitoring. In this study, five hydrogeochemical facies were identified: Mg2+-HCO3-; Mg2+-Cl-; Na+-Cl-; Na+-HCO3-; and Na+SO42-; and principal processes that lead to concentrations of Mg2+, Na+, NO3- and salinity, which control the chemical quality of the waters are: chemical weathering of the lithology, cation exchange, saline wedges, and anthropogenic intervention. Groundwater quality is primarily Class 4 (Decree 883, Official Gazette 5.021, 1995), whose direct use may have negative effects on the health of humans, animals, and soil.
