ABSTRACT
Ca and Mg are chemical elements commonly found in the environment and the main constituents of many types of minerals and rocks. They are also essential to Man. Owing to their abundance in nature, they are present in all water resources and generally occur as the dominant cations with low TDS levels, whose origin is associated with large formations of sedimentary rocks (limestones, dolomites), and to a lesser extent with the degradation of silicate minerals that contain Ca and Mg. Ca and Mg concentrations in groundwater in Serbia vary over a wide range and their distribution is not uniform. The variation in the concentrations of these ions depends on the hydrogeological province, while in any single province it is a consequence of Serbia’s highly complex geology. The best examples are the Carpatho-Balkanides, with predominant karstified rock formations, and the Vardar Zone where ophiolites prevail but the structure is much more complex than that of the Carpatho-Balkanides.
