Correlation of main physicochemical parameters of some groundwater in northern Serbia

The geothermal waters of the first and the shallowest groundwater system of the Province of Vojvodina in northern Serbia, south part of the Pannonian Basin, are characterized by elevated temperatures (between 25 and 85 °C) and elevated gas content (above 1 Nm3/m3) with a high methane content (average about 94% of total gases). These methane-containing waters are particularly abundant in the Central part of the province between Danube and Tisa rivers. Dominant ions in these waters are sodium and bicarbonate, but the waters also contain significant amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride, and ammonium. Components that are of balneological significance include iodine, bromine, fluorine, strontium, lithium, barium, and metasilicic and metaboric acids. Based on statistical analysis, a strong positive correlation is generally observed in about 9.2% cases. A slightly lower correlation appears in about 42.2%, and negative correlation coefficient appears in about 48.6% cases. The dendrogram of the cluster analysis built on the wells shows three main groups. There is the cluster of (Na+)aq, (Cl−)aq and (HCO3−)aq. The second aggregation is (NH4+)aq/(NH3)aq. The third group includes (Mg2+)aq, (Ca2+)aq, (Fe3+)aq, (Sr2+)aq, (Pb2+)aq, and (Zn2+)aq.

Research highlights
► Geothermal water from Central Backa (Vojvodina, north Serbia) was analyzed.
► Depth interval, temperature, total gas, methane contents, and chemistry were determined.
► Reported are the correlation coefficients and dendrogram between parameters.