Trends of Geographical Research on Fluoride Contamination: A Systematic Review

Fluoride contamination in groundwater is one of the major environmental issues that causes health hazards. The current study focuses on the trends and nature of research works that are going on globally on this particular issue of fluoride contamination from the perspective of geography. While discussing these perspectives in general, special focus is being given to the fluoride contamination scenario of India and West Bengal. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the major focus area of the researchers on the groundwater contamination along with the methodologies that have been used by the researchers. The data sources for the literature review that have been used are the Elsevier database (Science Direct), Dimension AI, and Google Scholar. Data categorization has been done on the basis of themes of literature and methodologies that have been used. Bibliometric analysis has been done using Vos Viewer software. The choropleth technique and Inverse Distance Weightage methods have been used for the mapping purpose of groundwater contamination. The study unveils the interdisciplinary nature of the topic of fluoride contamination and how geographers can collaborate with researchers from other disciplines like hydrology, chemistry, and engineering.