As a part of study on geological disposal of radioactive waste, hydrogeochemical characteristics of deep granitic groundwater in Korea were investigated through the construction of a large geochemical dataset of natural water, the examination on the b...
As a part of study on geological disposal of radioactive waste, hydrogeochemical characteristics of deep granitic groundwater in Korea were investigated through the construction of a large geochemical dataset of natural water, the examination on the behaviour of dissolved constituents, and the consideration of phase stability based on thermodynamic approach. In granitic region, the contents of total dissolved solids increase progressively from surface waters to deep groundwaters, which indicates the presence of more concentrated waters at depth due to water-rock interaction. The chemical composition of groundwater evolves from initial $Ca^{2+}$-(C $l^{-}$+S $O_4$$^{2-}$) or $Ca^{2+}$-HC $O_3$$^{-}$ type to final N $a^{+}$-HC $O_3$$^{-}$ or N $a^{+}$-(C $l^{-}$+S $O_4$$^{2-}$) type, via $Ca^{2+}$-HC $O_3$$^{-}$ type. Three main mechanisms seem to control the chemical composition of groundwater in the granitic region; 1) congruent dissolution of calcite at shallower depth, 2) calcite precipitation and incongruent dissolution of plagioclase at deeper depth, and 3) kaolinite-smectite or/and kaolinite-illite reaction at equilibrium at deeper depth. The behaviour of dissolved major cations (C $a^{2+}$, $K^{+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, M $a^{+}$) and silica is likely to be controlled by these reactions.