Aquifer characteristics and water quality of Miocene–Pleistocene sediments, Kuwait: Fid-Bau Portal

Aquifer characteristics and water quality of Miocene–Pleistocene sediments, Kuwait

Al-Ruwaih, F. M. / Qabazard, H. A.

Abstract Al-Atraf is one of the water well fields of Kuwait supplying Kuwait City with the brackish groundwater obtained from the Kuwait Group aquifer of Miocene–Pleistocene age. The study determined the hydrogeological and hydrochemical characteristics of the groundwater in order to identify the major chemical processes that influence the groundwater quality of the study area. The results of the aquifer test analyses indicate that the Kuwait Group is a confined to semi-confined aquifer, with a transmissivity ranging between 62 and 321 $ m^{2} $/day. The flow net analysis implied that the groundwater moves from southwest to northeast. The estimated transmissivity values agree well with those calculated from the aquifer test. The results of the chemical analyses data of the Al-Atraf field show that the groundwater is mainly brackish, of NaCl and $ Na_{2} $$ SO_{4} $ water types. The groundwater is undersaturated with respect to halite, gypsum and anhydrite and supersaturated with respect to quartz, dolomite and calcite in the direction of groundwater flow. The average $ Pco_{2} $ of the groundwater is higher than the $ Pco_{2} $ of the earth’s atmosphere indicating that the groundwater is supplied with $ CO_{2} $ during the infiltration processes and dissolves the carbonate minerals under closed-system conditions.