Paper Title
Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals in the Groundwater of Fire and Non-fire Region of Jharia Coal Field – Dhanbad, Eastern India

Abstract
Jharia coalfield (JCF) is popularly known for its vast resources and the prime quality of coking coal. The open coal fire in JFC is one of the severe issues that may contaminate not only atmospheric air but also the quality of groundwater. The present study investigates the spatial distribution of heavy metals in the groundwater of the fire (FI) and non-fire (NF) zone of the JCF. Six heavy metals viz. Cobalt (Co), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), and Zinc (Zn) were monitored in the groundwater sample from 30 sampling locations by the Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. The range value of Zn (FI- 0.11 to 0.861, NF- 0.014 to 0.72), Cu (FI- 0 to 0.067, NF- 0.004 to 0.079), Fe (FI- 0 to 0.114, NF- 0.004 to 0.07) and Ni (NF- 0 to 0.048) are well within the set guideline value of the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) specification of Drinking water quality. The spatial distribution of heavy metals was investigated by using ArcGIS 10.3 software. The study provides immense help for public health decision-makers to better manage water quality, especially in the coal mine region. Keywords - Ground Water, Heavy metals, Spatial distribution, GIS