Characterization of Hydrogeochemical Processes Controlling Major Ion Chemistry of the Batal Glacier Meltwater, Chandra Basin, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

This manuscript discusses about the solute acquisition processes controlling hydrogeochemistry and suspended sediment characteristics of meltwater of the Batal glacier, Western Himalaya, India. The predominance of anions and cations in meltwater follows the order: SO42− > HCO3− > Cl− > NO3− and Ca2+> Mg2+> Na+> K+, respectively. High excess of (Ca + Mg) over (Na + K), high input of (Ca + Mg) to the TZ+ (total cations) and very low input of (Na + K) to the total cations (TZ+) demonstrate that meltwater chemistry of Batal glacier is predominantly regulated by carbonate type weathering along with minor input from silicate type weathering. Sulphide oxidation is the dominant mechanism responsible for delivery of hydrogen ions (protons) for weathering in the glacier environment, which is revealed by C-ratio of meltwater. The Piper trilinear plot indicates that Ca–SO4 is the prevalent water type in the study area with dominancy of (Ca + Mg) (alkaline earth metals) over (Na + K) (alkali metals) and dominancy of (SO4 + Cl) (strong acid) over (HCO3) (weak acid). Interrelation among the different chemical constituents of meltwater and various factor regulating meltwater chemistry of the Batal glacier are evaluated by multivariate statistical analysis. Average suspended sediment concentrations in meltwater of the study area for August and September 2014 were computed to be 706 and 98.3 mg/l, respectively. These results show that in August suspended sediment concentrations is high and in September its concentration is low.