The Mystery of the Acacia Tree in Batan, Aklan

OH, THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE WELL BESIDE THE ACACIA TREE NEAR THE HEALTH CENTER IN BATAN, AKLAN! Ano kayang Sekreto ng well na ito?

Our NATA team has been captivated by this community well, and the recent investigation involved analyzing water samples from Batan and Boracay wells taken in January. The results are not intriguing—both sets of wells show a direct alignment with the meteoric waterline, indicating that they are replenished by rainwater, a common and expected phenomenon.

For the Boracay wetland, deviating from the line, it is not surprising due to evaporative enrichment in stable isotopes of Oxygen and Hydrogen, as it is a surface water source. This is the large wetland behind D’ mall in Boracay. Meanwhile, the seawater samples from Boracay and Batan closely align, as anticipated, given their marine origin. So enough about Boracay kasi expected naman na na ganito ang profile ng isotopes in groundwater , surfacewater, sea water.

What intrigues as more is this community well in Batan, Aklan beside the Health Center. There is a big big acacia tree (estimated to be around 200years old) beside the well. Typically, a departure from the meteoric line is observed, primarily attributed to the process of evapotranspiration. Evapotranspiration is the combined process of water vapor evaporation from the Earth’s surface and transpiration from plants.

Ang pinagtataka namin bakit itong well na ito hindi nag deviate from the meteoric line? Tapos , may well sa kumbento ng Batan, also near the community well, iba naman ang signature ng groundwater dito.

Dapat since same aquifer lang naman ang dalawang wells na ito, dapat halos pareho lang ang tubig diba? But isotopically they are distinct. In terms of Chemistry naman, typical na groundwater ang nasa kumbento, pero ang nasa community well ay very low TDS, as if the water has not interacted with its bedrock!

Ang dapat nga mataas ang TDS nito kasi the evaporative enrichment will raise the ion concentrations relative to sodium. So bakit nga ba talaga? And this has proximity to the seawater sources pa.

Could it be that this well is upwelling old old , ancient groundwater? Tritium age-dating has confirmed that the community well is 3 times older than the kumbento well. mga 100 years older , pero bakit? saan nangagaling ang tubig nya?

When examining the water samples from Boracay, specifically Cagban well 1, Cagban well 2, and the hand pump near Henann, they form a close cluster. This is attributed to the unique hydrology of a small island, where there is only one aquifer.

In Batan, where like Boracay also is a small compact island, although the Acacia well and Kumbento well are in close proximity, their plots are noticeably distant from each other. Kelangang balikan ito for post monsoon sampling.