The use of chemical and isotopic data as indicators of the origin of waters and dissolved salts in the Bambui calcareous aquifer (Bahia-Brazil)

Samples of 25 wells located in the Bambui limestone aquifer in the region of Irece - Bahia, have been analised for the isotopic ratio 18O/16O and the major chemical species Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl, SO4 and bicarbonate. The oxygen-18 data have been found to range between -2,62/00(in a thousand) to -6,66/00(in a thousand) relative to the universal Standard Mean Ocean Water (SMOW) and are compared with the values of the precipitation in the localities of Jacobina and Lencois (meteorological stations nearby) and with the values of the groundwater in sedimentary basins in northeastern Brazil. The comparison suggests that aquifer system is recharged by precipitation originated in northeastern Brazil, instead of originating on coast of Bahia, east of the area. Furthermore, the waters in aquifer are not found homogenized, having widely varying 18O and chemical composition and being of different ages. The strong correlation between the observations Ca, Mg, Na, Cl and TDS (total dissolved solids) suggests an aerosol origin of salts, not excluding the hypothesis of dissolution of rock, which concentrations. The comparison of characteristic ratios Mg/Ca, SO4/Cl and (Cl-Na)/Cl, a Piper diagrama and a dendrogram established by cluster analysis, indicates that the wells may be separated in to two groups according to the isotopic or geochemical environment to which they belong. These groups may represent the differents sources of salt proposed, one being from the limestone, the other having come from aerosols. (Author)