Karstic spring waters of the coastal area of Bejaia represent important sources of drinking water. The present study covers the identification of the geochemical processes responsible of the mineralization of spring waters and their characterization. Forty-two water samples were collected from six important springs within the study area then analyzed according to major ions. In addition to traditional diagrams, Piper, Gibbs and scatter diagrams, multivariate statistical analyses, namely principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), were applied. Hydrochemical parameters such as temperature (T), pH, and electrical conductivity (EC) of the samples were measured on site, and major ion analysis (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, HCO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, and Cl⁻) was conducted in the laboratory. Results showed three different geochemical groups of samples: (1) The first group, characterized by water flowing through fractures of Jurassic limestone (Toudja, Aiguades and Cascade), was lowly mineralized and had Ca–HCO₃ water type. (2) The second group was highly mineralized (samples from Derguina spring), characterized by Ca–Mg–HCO₃-SO₄water type, indicating that waters are flowing through Triassic evaporitic formations. (3) The third group, which represents samples from Source Bleue and Minena springs, was moderately mineralized and had Ca–Mg–HCO₃ water type with important concentrations of SO₄²⁻. The water of this group might be the result of an interaction between both limestone and evaporite within abnormal contacts.

中文翻译：

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贝贾亚沿海地区（北阿尔及利亚）岩溶泉水的水化学和统计研究

贝贾亚（Bejaia）沿海地区的岩溶泉水是重要的饮用水来源。本研究涵盖了负责泉水矿化的地球化学过程及其表征。从研究区域的六个重要温泉中收集了42个水样，然后根据主要离子进行了分析。除传统图，Piper图，Gibbs图和散点图外，还应用了多元统计分析，即主成分分析（PCA）和层次聚类分析（HCA）。现场测量样品的水化学参数，例如温度（T），pH和电导率（EC），并进行主要离子分析（Ca 2 ⁺，Mg 2 ⁺，Na ⁺，K ⁺，HCO ₃ ^-，SO ₄ ^2-和Cl ^- ）的混合物在实验室中进行。结果表明，样品分为三个不同的地球化学组：（1）第一组的特征是水流过侏罗纪石灰岩（Toudja，Aiguades和Cascade）的裂缝，矿化程度低，具有Ca–HCO ₃水类型。（2）第二组是高度矿化的（来自Derguina春季的样品），其特征是Ca-Mg-HCO ₃ -SO ₄水类型，表明水正在流经三叠纪蒸发岩层。（3）第三组代表来自Source Bleue和Minena泉的样品，矿化程度中等，并具有Ca–Mg–HCO ₃具有重要浓度的SO ₄ ^2-的水类型。该组中的水可能是异常接触中石灰石和蒸发物之间相互作用的结果。