Modeling of Ground Water Salinity on the Caspian Southern Coasts

Water salinity is one of the main restrictive factors in water exploiting. Also, unsuitable management and exploitation of water resources has led to an increase of surface and groundwater salinity. Thus, in view of human needs to water resources, it is necessary to study and define water salinity factors in order to weaken these factors. This research has been conducted to investigate the factors of groundwater salinity and also, to provide a model for estimating groundwater salinity on the Caspian southern coasts. Data included in the model are: water qualitative examinations in the area, annual precipitation and evaporation, water table depth, surface water salinity, aquifer formation (Transmissivity) and distance from Caspian Sea. Surface and groundwater salinity was estimated by sampling in different sites on the Caspian southern coasts. Then, Multivariate Regression method was used by using SPSS software. In this stage, groundwater EC has been used as a variable for water salinity or dependent variable and groundwater salinity factors have been used as independent variables. A linear model and a non-linear model were presented. The models efficiency was evaluated by applying them in the sites that their data were not used for presenting the models. Finally, groundwater EC average map was provided by using the presented non-linear model and Geographic Information System in the Eastern part of Mazandaran province. In view of salinity hazard increases in the coastal terrains and agricultural areas, the places with high hazard salinity must be defined and managed to decrease water resources salinity. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010