Abstract
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 Ca 2+ > Mg 2+ > Na + > K + and for anions as HCO 3 − > SO 4 2− > Cl − > NO 3 − , respectively. Analysis suggests that the meltwater is mostly dominated by Ca 2+ and HCO 3 − . It has been observed that the ionic concentration HCO 3 − 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 (Ca 2+ –HCO 3 − ) 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 (Ca 2+ + Mg 2+ ) against TZ + and (Na + + K + ). In statistical approach, PCA analysis suggests that geogenic weathering dynamics in the catchment is associated with carbonate-dominant lithology.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 651-660 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Acta Geophysica |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 9 Feb 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2019 |
Keywords
- Anions
- Bilare Banga glacier
- Carbonate weathering
- Cations
- Hydro-geochemistry