Genesis of the groundwater on the eastern side of the Jordan Valley area

摘要

On the eastern side of the Jordan Valley area a variety of groundwater chemistries is found reflecting different sources of chemical constituents. In this study the end members which undergo nixing processes to produce the existing water chemistries in the different areas of the eastern Jordan Valley are identified as waters of: Precipitation, floods, upper aquifer, deep aquifer, Lisan Formation, salt bodies, irrigation return flows and local recharge. The chemical characteristics of the water end members and their specific content on chemical species are defined and the sources of the chemical species leading to the groundwater genesis are identified. Analyses of common water constituents, O~(18) and D isotopes, bromide concentration, ionic ratios and chemical clustering were used to characterize the groundwater types and to understand their genesis. The findings show distinctive composition of the end members and their evolution as they pass from precipitation to infiltration to down-percolation into the different geologic formations and from one formation into the other. Salt water bodies in the underground of the Jordan Valley, Lisan Formation and Triassic-Jurassic rocks are found to be the main sources of salinity and chemical species in the groundwater of the area. Irrigation return flows contribute also to the salinity of the groundwater, but with only small amounts of salinity parameters and fertilizers causing water salinity to rise to a few thousands of μS/cm to become brackish.