Geochemistry Course

Lab 3
Name: Marlon Morocho
1) Generate a new spreadsheet that converts these data to mol units (mmol/kg or
umol/kg, as appropriate)
Concentration (mmol/kg)
Sampling Date
H Na K Ca Mg Fe (ppb) Mn (ppb) Sr Ba (ppb) Al (ppb) SiO2 Cl F HCO3 SO4
6/6/2010 0.00000060 9.000434972 0.9759273 7.77075 2.7541114 0.000381901 0.036627109 0.000298486 1.20381E-05 0.589605 7.490244 0.173859 7.998689 5.920025
23/7/2010 0.00000051 8.801652893 0.9668202 7.6535 2.7972857 0.000381901 0.036627109 0.000291206 2.94755E-05 0.589747 7.516437 0.173037 8.498607 5.890177
1/10/2010 0.00000071 8.745976512 0.908749 7.6775 2.7475324 0.000400087 0.036398903 0.000283925 5.57914E-05 0.573229 7.187087 0.182858 8.198656 5.95786
2/10/2010 0.00000065 8.391039582 0.8796879 7.449 2.6665292 0.000400087 0.035714284 0.000283925 3.01954E-05 0.559416 6.770186 0.188084 8.998525 5.910282
13/11/2010 0.00000063 8.429752066 0.9015605 7.637 2.7631574 0.000381901 0.036170696 0.000291206 1.75573E-05 0.565504 7.052639 0.186027 7.998689 5.838989
14/11/2010 0.00000052 8.249673771 0.910284 7.48425 2.7060028 0.000381901 0.035486078 0.000283925 5.8311E-05 0.560057 6.874606 0.186217 8.798558 5.862675
10/12/2010 0.00000063 8.810787299 0.9541315 7.11375 2.369243 0.000363715 0.033888634 0.000269365 9.79631E-05 0.517017 6.727237 0.17417 8.498607 5.917192
11/12/2010 0.00000051 8.852979556 0.9263239 7.18275 2.3594568 0.00034553 0.03411684 0.000269365 0.000134475 0.529263 8.564282 0.219801 8.998525 7.388502
15/4/2011 0.00000056 8.211570248 0.9094398 7.5060925 2.7454765 0.000290972 0.035143768 0.000276645 9.89066E-05 0.530829 6.875361 0.180833 8.518604 5.889511
16/4/2011 0.00000051 10.26146151 1.0775134 8.46285 3.0892265 0.000340074 0.039787766 0.000312318 0.000107501 0.576433 6.975283 0.180148 8.778561 5.697185
15/6/2011 0.00000045 8.552205307 0.9084763 7.58166 2.7039222 0.00034553 0.035424918 0.000269365 0.000122252 0.537597 6.803061 0.184669 8.918538 5.876538
16/6/2011 0.00000048 8.068919008 0.8966981 7.3734868 2.7685481 0.00034553 0.035796438 0.000276645 0.000147265 0.530719 6.368732 0.174821 8.748566 5.815016

2) Calculate and report charge balance error in this table.

Sampling Date
Charge
6/6/2010 6.139377
23/7/2010 4.72858
1/10/2010 5.330036
2/10/2010 3.133828
13/11/2010 5.759795
14/11/2010 3.545968
10/12/2010 2.794421
11/12/2010 -5.896634
15/4/2011 4.105278
16/4/2011 11.63404
15/6/2011 4.232676
16/6/2011 4.268486
3 Using the charge balance error and the reported uncertainties, assess the data quality.
Are there any outliers? What could be the reason for these outliers? Plotting
concentration versus time can help with this assessment.

a) Yes, there is an outlier (16/4/2011) data.

b) Possible reason can be:
 Measurement errors in ion concentrations.
 Missing ion species in the analysis.
 Incorrect ionic charges assumed for some species.
c)
 Time vs Concentration
12
Na
10 H
k
Ca
Concentration (mmol/kg)

8
Mg
6
Mn
Sr
Ba (ppb)
4
Al (ppb)
SiO2
2
Cl
F
0
HCO3
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
/ 2 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20
0
SO4
6 3 0 7 3 0 6 3 0 6 3 0 7 3 0 6 5 2 8 5 2 9 5
6/ 6/2 7/1 7/2 8/1 8/3 9/1 10/ 0/2 11/ 1/2 2/1 2/2 1/1 1/3 2/1 3/ 3/2 4/ 4/2 5/1 5/2 6/1
1 1 1 1

Datting Samples

4)Now that you have assessed the quality of the data, you can make a scientific
determination. Does the water chemistry of Big Spring fluctuate with the seasons,
indicating that snowmelt contributes to the thermal system waters? Or is the water
chemistry of Big Spring relatively unchanged with the seasons? Justify your answer.
Provide charts or other plots as warranted.
The water chemistry of Big Spring is relatively unchanged with seasons because the
changes in previous plots are minimal, which indicates only one water chemistry
composition. If are changed by snowmelt on ion concentrations, they will be visible in
the May-June months, and the graph shows near to 0 % changes.