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APPLICATION OF CONTEMPORARY COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS IN THE ANALYSIS OF GROUNDWATER CHEMISTRY (A CASE STUDY IN THE ARNASAY AREA)

V. S. Tyo, R. A. Tursunmetov, Kh. F. Khasanbaev

Institute of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology, Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan​

A pilot hydrogeochemical analysis of the chemical composition of the 2023 collection of 10 groundwater samples was conducted in the Arnasay area (Jizzakh Region, Republic of Uzbekistan) which is characterized by occurrence of uranium mineralization in deposits within the Paleogene-Cretaceous interval. Macro- and microelements concentrations were analytically determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in a certified laboratory, with data quality control. The statistical analysis methods used in this study are: correlation assessment, hierarchical clustering, and bootstrap approach for validating the stability of identified groups of elements. The impact of the limited sample size was minimized by using nonparametric coefficients and confidence intervals. The obtained results attest to the formation of stable geochemical associations of uranium with molybdenum, vanadium and rhenium, which may reflect their joint migration under reducing and sulfiding conditions with affiliated leaching from uranium-bearing rocks. It has been established that with properly applied multivariate techniques, even small data sets allow establishing informative hydrogeochemical relationships. The necessity of using larger collection of samples and involving isotopic and mineralogical studies to clarify the mechanisms of uranium migration in the water-rock system is shown.

Keywords: groundwater, correlation analysis, data visualization, cluster analysis, hydrogeochemistry, Python, geochemical processes.

DOI 10.20403/2078-0575-2025-4b-173-184

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