Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Catena, cilt.264, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
This paper aimed at modelling and investigating a groundwater salt pollution/contamination in the Lake Tuz (Salt Lake) Basin (29,425 km2, Central Anatolia, Turkey), in which intensive agricultural activities have been applied throughout the years, in addition to the natural resources (salty lakes). MT3DMS was used by utilizing the groundwater flow model of Eryiğit (2025) to simulate the groundwater salt pollution of the watershed under transient conditions. The input files of MT3DMS were generated by GMS groundwater simulator. The model was yearly simulated for 19 years from 2000 to 2018. Model calibration and validation were carried out by using groundwater quality observation data of 2000–2012 and 2013–2018, respectively. Electrical conductivity (μS/cm) data were converted to Total Dissolved Solids (g/l) for representing a salinity (as a salt concentration). To improve parameter estimations, the groundwater model parameters were calibrated by the modified Clonal Selection Algorithm (a class of Artificial Immune Systems) linked with MT3DMS in MATLAB. Recharge concentration was calibrated based on the land use/cover (30 different types) while other parameters (porosity, longitudinal dispersivity, sorption) were calibrated depending on the aquifer lithology (23 aquifers). Furthermore, the groundwater contaminant transport model was run to estimate groundwater salt concentrations within the scenario based on increasing agricultural activities in the future. Owing to/thanks to the model, predictions of the groundwater salt pollution depending on both anthropogenic (agriculture) and natural (lakes) factors were performed in the Lake Tuz watershed for the first time as a largest scaled spatiotemporal groundwater quality (salinity) model with a long simulation period (19 years) in Turkey.