Factor analysis is applied to results of chemical analyses of 103 water samples from wells in the Upper and Middle Mojave River valley, San Bernardino County, California. Chemical analyses showed that there are three principal chemical types of water, calcium bicarbonate, sodium sulfate, and sodium chloride, as well as many mixtures of the three. Data were studied by factor analysis to learn the relative importance of each principal ion in determining the variations among the samples, and to examine the possibility of chemical equilibrium between aqueous and solid phases in the aquifers. Most of the covariance in the system may be accounted for by variances of Ca+2, Mg+2, Na+1, SO4−2, and Cl−1. There is almost identical loading on the constituents Na+1 and Cl−1. The variance in chemical composition of the hydrochemical system is governed largely by sources of sodium chloride. None of the components is controlled by equilibrium between ions in the water and minerals in the aquifers. Concentrations of NO3−1 and F−1 vary independently of other constituents. Geographic distribution of statistical loadings of the principal constituents at individual wells does not reveal sources of the constituents, which must be deduced from geologic and hydrologic evidence. Factor analysis, however, furnished the critical information on chemical relationships basic to the deduction.
