Piper diagrams (also called Piper trilinear diagrams or Hill-Piper diagrams) are standard tools in hydrochemistry and hydrogeology for classifying the major ion chemistry of water samples. The diagram consists of two ternary plots â€” one for cations (CaÂ²âº, MgÂ²âº, Naâº+Kâº) and one for anions (Clâ», SOâ‚„Â²â», HCOâ‚ƒâ»+COâ‚ƒÂ²â») â€” linked by a central rotated square (diamond) that shows the overall water type. Samples of the same hydrochemical facies cluster together in characteristic zones of the diamond.

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sample
Well A1
Well A2
Well B1
Well B2
Spring 1
Spring 2
River 1
Lake 1

{
  "data": [
    {
      "sample": "Well A1",
      "ca": 62,
      "mg": 24,
      "na": 14,
      "cl": 8,
      "so4": 31,
      "hco3": 61
    },
    {
      "sample": "Well A2",
      "ca": 55,
      "mg": 28,
      "na": 17,
      "cl": 12,
      "so4": 28,
      "hco3": 60
    },
    {
      "sample": "Well B1",
      "ca": 18,
      "mg": 12,
      "na": 70,
      "cl": 55,
      "so4": 18,
      "hco3": 27
    },
    {
      "sample": "Well B2",
      "ca": 14,
      "mg": 9,
      "na": 77,
      "cl": 60,
      "so4": 15,
      "hco3": 25
    },
    {
      "sample": "Spring 1",
      "ca": 75,
      "mg": 18,
      "na": 7,
      "cl": 4,
      "so4": 11,
      "hco3": 85
    },
    {
      "sample": "Spring 2",
      "ca": 71,
      "mg": 21,
      "na": 8,
      "cl": 5,
      "so4": 14,
      "hco3": 81
    },
    {
      "sample": "River 1",
      "ca": 38,
      "mg": 31,
      "na": 31,
      "cl": 22,
      "so4": 44,
      "hco3": 34
    },
    {
      "sample": "Lake 1",
      "ca": 29,
      "mg": 36,
      "na": 35,
      "cl": 18,
      "so4": 52,
      "hco3": 30
    }
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "type": "piper",
      "caKey": "ca",
      "mgKey": "mg",
      "naKey": "na",
      "clKey": "cl",
      "so4Key": "so4",
      "hco3Key": "hco3",
      "labelKey": "sample"
    }
  ],
  "title": {
    "text": "Groundwater Chemistry Piper Diagram"
  }
}

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A Piper diagram plots the major ion chemistry of water samples using two ternary diagrams (cations on the left, anions on the right) linked by a central diamond. Each point represents a water sample plotted in all three plots simultaneously.

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