Author(s)

Muhammad Gomaah^1*, Abdulaziz Al-Bassam²

¹United Nations Developing Program (UNDP) & Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
²National Center for Research and Water Studies, Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The origin of the hyper saline groundwater in aquifers all over the world is still unclear till today. The current paper is an attempt to interpret a possible origin of the hyper salinity in the groundwater of the Wasia-Biyadh Aquifer system in Saudi Arabia. The result indicated that the major factors contributing salinity to groundwater are silicate weathering and evaporite dissolution/and or evaporation, as indicated by the Na⁺-normalized Ca²⁺ VS HCO₃^-plot. However, some groundwater samples showed hyper salinity that had been attributed to the presence of a naturally-occurring-hydrothermal system, due to the high concentration of the radionuclides within the aquifer. The high-salinity samples (Na-Cl type) plot under the evaporation line on the Na⁺/Cl^- vs. Cl^- relationship, suggesting deep heating that resulted in hyper salinity. The geochemical reactions in the eastern part of the aquifer included the precipitation of pyrite, dolomite, clay, and the incongruent dissolution of plagioclase.

Geochemistry, Hyper Salinity, Groundwater, Wasia-Biyadh Aquifer

Gomaah, M. and Al-Bassam, A. (2021) Geochemistry and Origin of the Hyper Salinity of Groundwater in Wasia-Biyadh Aquifer, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 9, 1-14. doi: 10.4236/gep.2021.911001.