Hydro-geochemical analysis of meltwater draining from Bilare Banga glacier, Western Himalaya

Acta Geophysica

Anupma Kumari¹  Anshuman Bhardwaj¹  Ravindra Kumar Sinha²  Akhilesh Gupta²  Atar Singh³  Ramesh Kumar³  Rajesh Kumar³  Shaktiman Singh³ 

[1] Lulea University of Technology;Patna University;Sharda University

关键词: Bilare Banga glacier;    Hydro-geochemistry;    Cations;    Anions;    Carbonate weathering;   

DOI  :  10.1007/s11600-019-00262-w

学科分类：地球科学(综合)

来源: Polska Akademia Nauk * Instytut Geofizyki

【 摘 要 】

The changing climate is affecting the melting process of glacier ice and snow in Himalaya and may influence the hydro-geochemistry of the glacial meltwater. This paper represents the ionic composition of discharge from Bilare Banga glacier by carrying out hydro-geochemical analysis of water samples of melting season of 2017. The pH and EC were measured on-site in field, and others parameters were examined in the laboratory. The abundance of the ions observed in meltwater has been arranged in decreasing order for cations as Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+ and for anions as HCO3− > SO42− > Cl− > NO3−, respectively. Analysis suggests that the meltwater is mostly dominated by Ca2+ and HCO3−. It has been observed that the ionic concentration HCO3− is dominant and Cl− is the least in the catchment. Piper plot analysis suggests that the chemical composition of the glacier discharge not only has natural origin but also has some anthropogenic input. Hydro-geochemical heterogeneity reflected the carbonate-dominated features (Ca2+–HCO3−) in the catchment. The carbonate weathering was found as the regulatory factor to control the chemistry of the glacial meltwater due to the high enrichment ratio of (Ca2+ + Mg2+) against TZ+ and (Na+ + K+). In statistical approach, PCA analysis suggests that geogenic weathering dynamics in the catchment is associated with carbonate-dominant lithology.

【 授权许可】

Unknown