Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India)

Uranium is a radioactive element normally present in hexavalent form as U(VI) in solution and elevated levels in drinking water cause health hazards. Representative groundwater samples were collected from different litho-units in this region and were analyzed for total U and major and minor ions. Re...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thivya, C., Chidambaram, S., Keesari, T., Prasanna, Mohan Viswanathan, Thilagavathi, R., Adithya, V., Singaraja, C.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50101
_version_ 1848758394321633280
author Thivya, C.
Chidambaram, S.
Keesari, T.
Prasanna, Mohan Viswanathan
Thilagavathi, R.
Adithya, V.
Singaraja, C.
author_facet Thivya, C.
Chidambaram, S.
Keesari, T.
Prasanna, Mohan Viswanathan
Thilagavathi, R.
Adithya, V.
Singaraja, C.
author_sort Thivya, C.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Uranium is a radioactive element normally present in hexavalent form as U(VI) in solution and elevated levels in drinking water cause health hazards. Representative groundwater samples were collected from different litho-units in this region and were analyzed for total U and major and minor ions. Results indicate that the highest U concentration (113 µg l-1) was found in granitic terrains of this region and about 10 % of the samples exceed the permissible limit for drinking water. Among different species of U in aqueous media, carbonate complexes [UO2(CO3)22-] are found to be dominant. Groundwater with higher U has higher pCO2 values, indicating weathering by bicarbonate ions resulting in preferential mobilization of U in groundwater. The major minerals uraninite and coffinite were found to be supersaturated and are likely to control the distribution of U in the study area. Nature of U in groundwater, the effects of lithology on hydrochemistry and factors controlling its distribution in hard rock aquifers of Madurai district are highlighted in this paper.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T09:43:17Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-50101
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T09:43:17Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Springer
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-501012017-09-13T15:48:30Z Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India) Thivya, C. Chidambaram, S. Keesari, T. Prasanna, Mohan Viswanathan Thilagavathi, R. Adithya, V. Singaraja, C. Uranium is a radioactive element normally present in hexavalent form as U(VI) in solution and elevated levels in drinking water cause health hazards. Representative groundwater samples were collected from different litho-units in this region and were analyzed for total U and major and minor ions. Results indicate that the highest U concentration (113 µg l-1) was found in granitic terrains of this region and about 10 % of the samples exceed the permissible limit for drinking water. Among different species of U in aqueous media, carbonate complexes [UO2(CO3)22-] are found to be dominant. Groundwater with higher U has higher pCO2 values, indicating weathering by bicarbonate ions resulting in preferential mobilization of U in groundwater. The major minerals uraninite and coffinite were found to be supersaturated and are likely to control the distribution of U in the study area. Nature of U in groundwater, the effects of lithology on hydrochemistry and factors controlling its distribution in hard rock aquifers of Madurai district are highlighted in this paper. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50101 10.1007/s10653-015-9735-7 Springer restricted
spellingShingle Thivya, C.
Chidambaram, S.
Keesari, T.
Prasanna, Mohan Viswanathan
Thilagavathi, R.
Adithya, V.
Singaraja, C.
Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India)
title Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India)
title_full Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India)
title_fullStr Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India)
title_full_unstemmed Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India)
title_short Lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu (India)
title_sort lithological and hydrochemical controls on distribution and speciation of uranium in groundwaters of hard-rock granitic aquifers of madurai district, tamil nadu (india)
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50101