Geographical Trends In Water Chemistry Of Wetlands In Western Cape South Africa

The dataset contained major‑ion water chemistry data from wetlands located in the South‑Western Cape Province of South Africa. The data were originally collected during the late 1980s as part of a wetlands research project managed by the Freshwater Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. The study investigated whether geographical patterns existed in the major‑ion chemistry of wetland waters by analysing ionic concentrations and visualising their relationships using Maucha ionic diagrams. Water chemistry measurements included major cations and anions, together with supporting physicochemical variables such as temperature, conductivity, salinity, pH, total dissolved solids and nutrients. The dataset was stored in a fixed‑width ASCII file (CHEMDATA.DAT) and later re‑analysed for reproducibility as part of the ReScience challenge. The reproduced analysis demonstrated the continued usability of historical environmental datasets and illustrated long‑term value for assessing wetland condition and baseline water chemistry in the Western Cape region. The dataset served as a historical baseline for subsequent studies on wetland change and water quality trends and supported spatial interpretation of hydrochemical variability across wetlands within the study region.