Gaussian simulation of nitrate concentration distribution in the Zagreb aquifer

ABSTRACT

Nitrates present one of the most common groundwater contaminants in the world and one of the five major groups of contaminants in the study area. Gaussian simulation (GS) algorithm was used for determining the spatial distribution of average nitrate concentrations from 2010 to 2015 on 95 sampling points. Results indicate two main focus areas of nitrate contamination, located on the left and right bank of the Sava River. Those areas generally extend according to groundwater flow, while areas near Sava River have much smaller concentrations. GS showed that they can be useful for this kind of mapping because they favor abrupt changes in data values which are in this case a result of heterogeneous lithological composition of the aquifer.

KEYWORDS:

• Gaussian simulation
• nitrate concentration
• Zagreb aquifer

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank the Schlumberger Company for providing the Academic licenses of Petrel Software to the Faculty without which this kind of analysis, in its current extent, would not be possible. Also, authors would like to thank Croatian Waters for the data obtained within the project ‘Definition of trends and groundwater status assessment in the Pannonian part of the Croatia’.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Publication process is supported by the Development Fund of the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb.