Enrichment environment and sources of strontium of groundwater in Xintian county, Hunan Province

This work attempts to better understanding the enrichment environment and sources of strontium in groundwater in Xintian county, Hunan Province. Groundwater and rocks on geological profiles were sampled and analyzed. The results showed that, (1) Rich-strontium groundwater is present in the strata of D3s, with contents in order for strata, D3s＞C1y＞D3x1＞D2q; (2)The average contents of strontium element of springs and shafts are 376.57μg·L-1 and 2,756.87 μg·L-1, respectively, 1.88 times and 13.78 times the natural mineral water, respectively. Strontium element contents of shafts are much higher than that of descending springs, 7.32 times the descending spring; (3)The lithology of D3s is medium-thick or thin layers of light grey marls, intercalated with limestone and shale, in which strontium contents are generally more than 300 mg·kg-1, with the highest was 838 mg·kg-1, which is the primary source of strontium in groundwater; (4) Many conditions have contributed to the formation of rich strontium in groundwater, such as gentle strata, the low coefficient of precipitation infiltration, planar supplies, and scattered seepage.