Abstract
The nature of solute transport of the Godavari basin has been studied based on 59 river and four rain water samples collected four times during 1977–1980. The Godavari basin annually transports 16.8 × 10 6t of solute load representing 6% of chemical load from the Indian subcontinent. The annual chemical erosion rate is 49 t km −1 yr −1 after correcting for atmospheric recycling. The tributaries flowing through the Deccan traps (basalt) covering 48% of the basin area are responsible for 85% of the dissolved transport. The remaining 15% is contributed by granites and other rock types. The sedimentary rocks located in the lower part of the basin covering 7% of the basin area actually retain 7 × 10 6t of the annual dissolved load. Individual elemental fluxes and their rates have also been calculated. Temporal variations in the dissolved transport are quite pronounced. The mean TDS of the Godavari River, 250 mg l −1 is much higher than the Indian and world average river water composition.
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