Hydro-geochemical analysis of meltwater draining from Bilare Banga glacier, Western HimalayaShow others and affiliations
2019 (English)In: Acta Geophysica, ISSN 1895-6572, E-ISSN 1895-7455, Vol. 67, no 2, p. 651-660
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
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.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2019. Vol. 67, no 2, p. 651-660
Keywords [en]
Bilare Banga glacier, Hydro-geochemistry, Cations, Anions, Carbonate weathering
National Category
Geochemistry Aerospace Engineering
Research subject
Atmospheric science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-72835DOI: 10.1007/s11600-019-00262-wISI: 000463780000017Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85061325556OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-72835DiVA, id: diva2:1287252
Note
Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-04-12 (johcin)
2019-02-092019-02-092021-05-07Bibliographically approved