Delineating the origins and processes of groundwater salinization and quality degradation in a coastal irrigated plain, Korba (Northeastern Tunisia).

From 2006 to 2020, groundwater investigations were conducted in the Korba coastal aquifer in northern Tunisia along two flow paths (transects S1 and S2), perpendicular to the shoreline. Groundwater sampling, hydrodynamic monitoring, and electrical tomography imaging were performed in situ. Geochemical analysis (Ionic ratios, ionic deltas, conventional diagrams, and stable isotopes) and modelling using PHREEQC, and multivariate statistical analysis were applied.

Machine learning-based prediction of toxic metals concentration in an acid mine drainage environment, northern Tunisia.

In northern Tunisia, Sidi Driss sulfide ore valorization had produced a large waste amount. The long tailings exposure period and in situ minerals interactions produced an acid mine drainage (AMD) which contributed to a strong increase in the mobility and migration of huge heavy metal (HM) quantities to the surrounding soils. In this work, the soil mineral proportions, grain sizes, physicochemical properties, SO and S contents, and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms such as the Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models were used to predict the soil HM quantities transferred from Sidi-Driss mine drainage to surrounding soils.