Suspended Sediment Transport from the Dokriani Glacier in the Garhwal Himalayas

Abstract

Estimation of sediment load from glacierized basins is very important for planning, designing, installation and operation of hydro-power projects, including management of reservoirs. In the present study, an assessment of suspended sediment concentration, load, yield and erosion rate has been undertaken for the Dokriani Glacier drainage basin located in the Garhwal Himalayas. About 60% of the total drainage area of this basin is glacierized. Data were collected for four ablation seasons (1995-1998). The mean daily suspended sediment concentrations for June, July, August and September were 452, 933, 965 and 275 mg 1-1, respectively, indicating highest suspended sediment concentration in August, followed by July. Similar trends were also found for the sediment load and about 88% of the total suspended sediment load of the melt period was transported during the months of July and August. Sediment yield for the study basin was computed to be about 2,800 t km-2 yr-1, which is comparable with glacierized basins (10-30% glacierized) in the Pamir region. For the entire ablation period, the erosion from the Dokriani Glacier basin is estimated to be about 1.0 mm. There was a poor relationship between suspended sediment concentration and discharge. The average percentages of clay, silt and sand were found to be 1.4, 67.3 and 31.3%, respectively, which suggest maximum content of silt followed by sand. There was limited variation in the content of clay, silt and sand in the suspended sediment during the ablation period.