Jhelum River Research Articles

Assessment of physicochemical parameters of Vishav stream: an important tributary of river Jhelum, Kashmir Himalaya, India.

The deteriorating conditions in stream ecosystems are detrimental for society as far as its health, and development is concerned if the underlying factors continue to operate without regular monitoring. In order to maintain the health of a stream ecosystem, assessment of spatiotemporal changes in its physicochemical attributes and identification of all factors that could alter its hydrological regime is an essential component for managing it. The current 2-year study (October-2017 to September-2019) assessed the physicochemical regime of lower stretches of the Vishav stream, a major left-bank tributary of river Jhelum on a spatiotemporal basis. The physicochemical data was analyzed through linear regression, ANOVA (followed by Duncan's test), multivariate statistical analysis, viz., principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). Linear regression pointed out the nature and magnitude of the relationship between different physicochemical variables (p < 0.05). PCA showed that WT, pH, EC, NO3-N, TDS, TH, and DO are the major factors reflecting the water quality of the Vishav stream. The range in water quality parameters of the Vishav stream was found conducive for the inhabitant fishes. Two well-defined clusters were obtained, wherein Cluster-I comprising of Site-III (a downstream pollution prone site) and Cluster-II comprising of Site-II and Site-I (mid- and upstream site respectively) are less prone to human interferences. The present study could serve as baseline information to manage and conserve this precious element of the aquatic ecosphere in terms of better water quality for humans and its inhabitant faunal elements especially fish which play a significant role in the economy of that region.

Climate change impact on cryosphere and streamflow in the Upper Jhelum River Basin (UJRB) of north-western Himalayas.

The critical significance of keeping the current information about the extent and dynamics of the cryosphere in the Himalayas cannot be understated. The climate of the Himalayas is vulnerable and interlinked with global-scale climate changes, and the hydrology of the region mainly depends on the cryosphere. This is the first study that has created glacier and glacier lake inventory that links the impact of cryosphere on streamflow to land system dynamic changes under the changing climate of the Upper Jhelum River Basin (UJRB) of the Kashmir Himalayan region. This study uses a series of satellite data (1980-2016) to assess the depletion of snow cover area (SCA), deglaciation, and dynamics of glacial lakes. Moreover, observational long-term hydrometeorological data were used to understand the variability in temperature, precipitation, and track changes of land system dynamics under depletion of streamflow. The results suggested an overall rise in temperature (TMax = 0.05 ºC a-1; TMin = 0.02 ºC a-1; Tavg = 0.06 ºC a-1) and a decrease in precipitation (2.9mm a-1) between 1980 and 2016 with a significant increase in annual average temperature and decrease in annual precipitation at stations located at higher altitudes. The SCA showed a significantly decreasing (p < 0.01) trend in the glacierized sub-basins with an annual rate of decrease of -0.78% a-1, -0.15% a-1, -0.03% a-1 -0.90% a-1 for Lidder, Sindh, Vishow, and Rambiara sub-basins, respectively. The findings of this study reveal the high occurrence of glacier disintegration and deglaciation. During the period 2010-2016, a rapid rate of deglaciation was observed (18.34 ± 0.14 km2), followed by 1992-2000 (15.61 ± 0.13 km2). The average rate of retreat was observed to be 6.81 ± 1.5m a-1 with a total retreat of 267 ± 80m during 1980-2016, which is higher than reported from surrounding mountain ranges in the Himalayas. The mapped 244 glacial and high-altitude lake inventory covers a total surface area of around 15 km2, with 5.87 km2 (40%) covered by 25 bedrock-dammed lakes. The glacial expansion and creation of new lakes are observed to be because of increasing glacier and snow melting between 1980 and 2016, which increases the risk of GLOF events in the future. The annual average discharge in UJRB significantly increased from 1991 to 1998 and was observed to be higher than the annual average of the respected gauge stations but shows significant depletion from 1998 onwards. The streamflow depletion under climate change is one of the reasons for land system dynamics in UJRB. The area under agriculture has decreased up to 63% with a massive expansion of built-up (399%), aquatic vegetation (523%), and plantation (765%) between 1992 and 2015.

The potential of a novel support vector machine trained with modified mayfly optimization algorithm for streamflow prediction

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the development of a robust accurate streamflow prediction model by balancing the abilities of exploitation and exploration to find the best parameters of a machine learning model. To do so, the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm is integrated with the mayfly optimization algorithm (MOA) as SAMOA to determine the optimal hyper-parameters of support vector regression (SVR) to overcome the exploration weakness of the MOA method. The proposed method is compared with the classical SVR and hybrid SVR-MOA. To examine the accuracy of the selected methods, monthly hydroclimatic data from Jhelum River Basin is used to predict the monthly streamflow on the basis of RMSE, MAE, NSE, and R2 indices. Test results show that the SVR-SAMOA outperformed the SVR-MOA and SVR models. SVR-SAMOA reduced the prediction errors of the SVR-MOA and SVR models by decreasing the RMSE and the MSE from 21.4% to 14.7% and from 21.7% to 15.1%, respectively, in the test stage.

Probabilistic flood risk assessment using coupled hydrologic and 2-D-hydraulic model in the Jhelum River, Northwest Himalayas

Probabilistic flood risk assessment using coupled hydrologic and 2-D-hydraulic model in the Jhelum River, Northwest Himalayas

Groundwater quality and availability assessment: A case study of District Jhelum in the Upper Indus, Pakistan

People's well-being and their economic development are linked to the availability and accessibility of water. The Pind Dadan Khan tehsil located on the right bank of River Jhelum is a classic example of water stressed confronting water quality and quantity issues. To evaluate usable potential and qualitative variations of groundwater, an integrated approach involving geophysical, water quality and risk assessment techniques was used. Accordingly, groundwater potential zones were categorized. A small shallow fresh groundwater pocket with acceptable water quality (<1.5 dS/m) for a depth between 15 m to 50 m exists in the eastern part of the study area. The groundwater of remaining tehsil was highly saline (TDS: 3852.23±5091.54 mg/L with maximum level up to 23164.03 mg/L). The quality of domestic wells at these 82 sites was unsafe (90%) due to salts, bacteriological contamination (71%), fluoride (45%), arsenic (5%), and nitrate (4%). Compared to these, public water supply schemes show comparatively lower salts (total dissolved solids of 144-2690 mg/L). However, arsenic was found beyond the WHO Drinking water guidelines (10 µg/L) in 65% sources which may pose serious cancer risks for 2 to 5 persons (maximum 12 persons) per 10,000 population.The study reveals that the freshwater in the study area is scarce and of vulnerable quality and require integrated water quantity and quality management. Our results also suggest that in arid to semi-arid regions, scoring factors based on salinity levels and relative size of the saline zone should be incorporated into indicators of water access and availability.

Settlement Analysis of Dredged Material and Its Stabilization Using Surkhi/Brick Dust

Abstract: Soil stabilization is the phenomenon by virtue of which the soils are altered to enhance their physical Properties. The process aims to increase the shear Strength of soil thus improving its load bearing capacity to support pavements and foundations. Diverse range of soil materials varying from Expansive clays to granular materials can be treated by a diverse set of Additives like silica, lime, fly-ash, cement and so on. In J&amp;K, the most common types of soils are the alluvial soils which get deposited in river beds as a result of sedimentation. River Jhelum in J&amp;K is one of the major hotspots for accumulated sediments with an estimate of about 36 lakh cubic meters of sediments in its river bed, leaving very little space in it to take excess water. Subsequently, it is severely threatened by the Phenomena of still higher levels of sedimentation and hence consequent Floods. Dredging practices are a challenge for the maintenance of rivers and their Spillways. In Geotechnical Engineering, the valorisation of dredging Sediments and their Use in public works is increasingly prospected by Researchers in recent Years. Moreover, Floods in Kashmir valley in September 2014 compelled the Govt. Of Jammu and Kashmir to take Necessary steps in order to avoid similar situation in near future. This project therefore intends to study the stabilization of dredged material procured from Sindh Nallah having a higher content of alluvial Soil using Surkhi/Brick dust as an additive. Soil stabilization by this means can be utilized on airport pavements, highway pavements, earthen dams and many other situations where sub-soils are not suitable for construction. Keywords: Sindh Nallah, Dredged material, Surkhi, OMC, MDD, CBR, Direct Shear test.

Understanding morphometric response to erosion and flash floods in Jhelum River Basin: index-based geospatial management approach

Understanding morphometric response to erosion and flash floods in Jhelum River Basin: index-based geospatial management approach

Suyya’s Flood: Numerical Models of Kashmir’s Medieval Megaflood and Ancient Lake Kerewa Drainage Events

In the mid-ninth century, an earthquake triggered a landslide that blocked the narrow gorge of the Jhelum River where it exits the Kashmir Valley. The landslide impounded a lake that extended ≈100 km along the floor of the valley, implying an impounded volume of ≤21 km3, flooding the capital, Srinagar, and much agricultural land. An engineered breach of the landslide was contrived by a Medieval engineer resulting in the catastrophic release of flood waters. Using reasonable assumptions we calculate the probable minimum drainage time of this Medieval flood (&amp;lt;4 days) and maximum downstream surge velocities (≈12 m/s). These would have been sufficient to transport boulders in the bed of the Jhelum with dimensions of ≈6 m, consistent with those currently present in some reaches of the river. Given the morphology of the Jhelum gorge we consider that landslide outburst floods may have been common in Kashmir’s history. Ancient shorelines indicate that paleo-lake volumes in the Kashmir Valley may have exceeded 400 km3 which, were they released in catastrophic floods, would have been associated with potential downstream outburst velocities &amp;gt;32 m/s, able to transport boulders with dimensions ≈40 m, far in excess of any found in the course of the Jhelum or in the Punjab plains. Their absence suggests that Kashmir’s ancient lakes were not lowered by outburst mechanisms much exceeding those associated with Suyya’s flood. Present-day floods have been many tens of meters shallower than those impounded by landslides in the Jhelum in the past several thousands of years. A challenge for future study will be to date Kashmir’s ancient shorelines to learn how often landslides and major impoundment events may have occurred in the valley.

Twenty-first century hydrologic and climatic changes over the scarcely gauged Jhelum river basin of Himalayan region using SDSM and RCPs

Twenty-first century hydrologic and climatic changes over the scarcely gauged Jhelum river basin of Himalayan region using SDSM and RCPs

Future climate change impacts on runoff of scarcely gauged Jhelum river basin using SDSM and RCPs

Abstract Climate change is a global issue and causes great uncertainties in runoff and streamflow projections, especially in high-altitude basins. The quantification of climatic indicators remains a tedious job for the scarcely gauged mountainous basin. This study investigated climate change by incorporating GCM (CCSM4) using the SDSM method for RCPs in the Jhelum river basin. Historical climatic data were coupled with Aphrodite data to cope with the scarcity of weather stations. SDSM was calibrated for the period 1976–2005 and validated for the period 2006–2015 using R2 and RMSE. Future climatic indicators were downscaled and debiased using the MB-BC method. The de-biased downscaled data and MODIS data were used to simulate discharge of Jhelum river basin using SRM. Simulated discharge was compared with measured discharge by using Dv% and NSE. The R2 and RMSE for SDSM range between 0.89–0.95 and 0.8–1.02 for temperature and 0.86–0.96 and 0.57–1.02 for precipitation. Projections depicted a rising trend of 1.5 °C to 3.8 °C in temperature, 2–7% in mean annual precipitation and 3.3–7.4% in discharge for 2100 as compared to the baseline period. Results depicted an increasing trend for climatic indicators and discharge due to climate change for the basin.

Comparative study of length-weight relationships and biological indices of Himalayan snow trout, Schizothorax labiatus, inhabiting two lotic water bodies in the Kashmir Valley

Abstract The length-weight relationship (LWR) plays an important role in fishery management as it can be used to estimate the average weight of a specific length group. The results of the current study revealed that the mean values of regression coefficient b for both sexes of Schizothorax labiatus (McClelland) in the Jhelum River indicated positive allometric growth, while in the Sindh River, the b value for males indicated positive allometric growth and for females negative allometric growth. The value of coefficient of determination r2 for both sexes of S. labiatus was equal to or greater than 0.90 in both water bodies, except for females in the Sindh River. Higher significant (P &lt; 0.05) average values of Fulton’s condition factor (K) and the hepatosomatic index (HSI) for both sexes of S. labiatus were noted in the Jhelum River than in the Sindh River. In contrast, higher significant (P &lt; 0.05) values of the gonadosomatic index (GSI) were recorded in the Sindh River. The data generated during the current study provide basic information for researchers and fish biologists for the conservation and sustainable management of this commercially important food fish species in the Kashmir Valley.

Morphological, histopathological and molecular characterization of Myxobolus szekelyianus n. sp. (Cnidaria: Myxosporea: Myxobolidae) causing acute gill disease in Schizothorax esocinus (Heckel, 1838) from River Jhelum of Kashmir Himalayan region, India

During the present study, we describe a novel myxozoan that forms plasmodia in the gill filament of Schizothorax esocinus collected from River Jhelum of Kashmir Himalayan region (n = 26). Description of the new species is based on morphology of the myxospore and on partial 18S rDNA gene. The results showed that the plasmodia were large, visible with naked eye, elongate in shape, whitish in colour, 8mm in diameter, at the centre of gill filament, histozoic, single or two in number per gill, but too big in size and filled by 1,000–1,400 myxospores. The myxospores measure 13.4 (length) × 9.5µm (width), short oval in frontal view, blunt at both in anterior and posterior, but somewhat narrowing towards the posterior end. Shell valves measure 0.45µm in thickness. No parietal folds were recorded. Two polar capsules equal in size, pyriform in shape were measured 7.3 × 4.2 µm (L × W). The 18S rDNA of this species (accession number MK785257) clustered phylogenetically with other related myxozoan parasites and showed maximum homogeneity of 98.63% with M. sp. SKBU-RC1 (MK412937) and M. sp. SKBU-RC2 (MK412937) infecting gills of Labeo rohita from India followed by 92.51% with M. pronini (MH329619) infecting abdominal cavity of Carassius gibelio from China. The study of histopathological changes of the gills revealed hypertrophy, hyperplasia, uplifting of cellular elements and severe damage to gill filaments resulting in suffocation of fish. By its unique myxospore morphology and its 18S rDNA sequence, we propose naming this species as Myxobolus szekelyianus n. sp.

Spatio-temporal variations of land surface temperature and precipitation due to climate change in the Jhelum river basin, India

The present study investigated the spatio-temporal variations of precipitation and temperature for the projected period (2011-2100) in the Jhelum basin, India. The precipitation and temperature variables are projected under RCP 8.5 scenario using statistical down scaling techniques such as Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Wavelet Artificial Neural Network (WANN) models. Firstly, the screened predictors were downscaled to predictand using ANN and WANN models for all the study stations. On the basis of the performance criteria, the WANN model is selected as an efficient model for downscaling of precipitation and temperature. The future screened predictor data pertaining to RCP 8.5 of CanESM2 model were downscaled to monthly temperature and precipitation for future periods (2011-2100) using WANN models. The investigation of the future projections revealed an average increase of 17-25% in the mean annual precipitation and 20-25% average increase in the monthly mean precipitation for all the selected stations towards the end of 21st century. The monthly mean temperature also showed an increase of 2-3 °C for all the study stations towards the end of 21st century. The mean seasonal temperature of the projected period is found to be increasing for all the four seasons in most parts of the basin.

Arsenic contamination of irrigation wells and associated human health hazards in the Punjab plains of Pakistan

In the present study, the tubewell water quality, emphasizing on As contamination, were investigated in the Punjab plains of Pakistan. The Na-Cl water type is dominated in Doabs (Rechna and Chaj) whereas Ca-HCO3 water type is dominated in Ravi flood plain. Concentrations of As in well water (65 ± 32 μg/L) are higher in the floodplains of the Ravi River compared to the Chenab (13 ± 9 μg/L) and Jhelum (4 ± 5 μg/L) rivers, as well as in the intervening Rechna (6 ± 6 μg/L) and Chaj doabs (0.8 ± 0.2 μg/L). The average Hazard quotients (HQ) is 9.09E+00 and Potential Cancer Risk (CR) is 4.09E−03 in Ravi flood plain which indicates the potential health risk to the consumers of well water for drinking purposes and also long term irrigation with this water will result As accumulation in paddy soil. Based on average values, the Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Magnesium Hazard (MH), %Sodium (%Na) and Kelly Ratio (KR) follows the sequence Rechna Doab>Chaj Doab>Chenab floodplain>Jhelum floodplain>Ravi floodplain in 5 geographic units, suggesting low salinity water in floodplains and saline water in Doabs.

Modeling of annual rainfall extremes in the Jhelum River basin, North Western Himalayas

Modeling of annual rainfall extremes in the Jhelum River basin, North Western Himalayas

Multivariate morphometric study for species differentiation in two congeneric schizothoracids, Schizothorax niger Heckel 1838 and Schizothorax esocinus Heckel 1838 from River Jhelum Kashmir

Principal component and discriminant analyses were used to investigate morphological differences between Schizothorax niger Heckel 1838 and Schizothorax esocinus Heckel 1838 from River Jhelum, Kashmir, India. The purpose of this study was to identify the two species correctly and assign them into distinct genetic groups. Seven morphometric measurements (body weight, standard length, total length, head length, body depth, pre-dorsal length and caudal fin length) were studied in 100 fish specimens. All the studied morphometric characters reported higher mean values (p&lt;0.01) in S. niger. The use of multivariant techniques such as principal component analysis, showed that the differences between the species resulted mainly from body weight, standard length, pre-dorsal length, head length, total length and caudal fin length. The stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that morphometric traits namely, standard length, pre-dorsal length and caudal fin length were the three most important variables to clearly distinguish the two species. Cross validation test using leave-one-out procedure indicated that 89% original grouped cases correctly classified into their groups, whereas 89% of cross validated grouped cases were correctly classified. Keywords: Fish stocks, Morphology, Schizothorax, Snow trout, Variation

Study of Some Morphometric and Meristic Traits of Chirru Snowtrout (Schizothorax esocinus) from River Jhelum, Kashmir, India

A study was conducted to analyze morphological characteristics of a Schizothoracid species: Schizothorax esocinus collected from three sites of river Jhelum in Kashmir. S. esocinus is locally known as “Churru” and forms an important food element of the local population., Schizothorax esocinus is one of the most important species in the genus Schizothorax and it has continued to contribute immensely to the nutritional needs, economic growth and development of the Kashmir valley. Furthermore, this fish is very sensitive to any environmental changes so it acts as bioindicator of aquatic pollution. A total of 180 samples were taken for the study of the morphometric and meristic characters utilzing ethnic fishing gears. Thirteen conventional morphometric characters examined in the present study, showed high co-efficient of determination (R2) values ranging from 0.55 to 0.91 for district Srinagar from 0.56 to 0.92 for district Anantnag, and 0.56 to 0.98 for district Baramulla signifying that the traits were highly correlated to each other. Out of six meristic characters examined, two characters were not remarkably different (p&gt;0.05). The fin formula of S. esocinus was devised as D, I + 5-10, P, I + 7-11, C, I + 15-23, A, I + 3-7, LL, 55-170. This study is purely aimed at studying the morphology and meristics of S. esocinus and not at estimating the length-weight relationship or condition factor.

Investigating the 2017 Erratic Fishkill Episode in the Jhelum River, Kashmir Himalaya

Globally, the frequency of fishkill episodes is increasing, owing to natural and human-induced modification of aquatic ecosystems. A massive fishkill took place on 22 October 2017 along an approximately 1.5 km stretch of the Jhelum River in Srinagar City, India. Thousands of fish died during this specific event, not lasting more than three hours, creating chaos and panic among the local population and government circles. In this context, affected fish were assessed for three morphological parameters, which include skin color, eye appearance, and skin texture. To back our findings, three critical water-quality parameters, including pH, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen essential for the survival of fishes were assessed in the affected river stretch. This study assumes importance given that water-quality observation stations for monitoring the health of the Jhelum River are lacking in the highly urbanized Srinagar City. The morphological examination of fish samples revealed discoloration, bulging eyes, and rough skin texture, indicating chemical contamination of waters in the affected river stretch. The water quality analysis revealed neutral pH (7.2), normal temperature (15.6 °C), and mildly depleted dissolved oxygen (6 mg L−1) levels. While the morphological examination of the affected fish indicated chemical contamination, the physicochemical parameters exhibited a typical scenario of river water. For avoiding any such further incident and to precisely ascertain the cause of such fishkill episodes in future, it is suggested that a few continuous water-quality monitoring sites along Jhelum River should be set up, supplemented with robust ecological modeling simulations.

Understanding the spatiotemporal pollution dynamics of highly fragile montane watersheds of Kashmir Himalaya, India

Pollution of riverine ecosystems through the multidimensional impact of human footprints around the world poses a serious challenge. Research studies that communicate potential repercussions of landscape structure metrics on snowmelt riverine water quality particularly, in climatically fragile Himalayan watersheds are very scarce. Though, worldwide, grasping the influence of land-use practices on water quality (WQ) has received renewed attention yet, the relevance of spatial scale linked to landscape pattern is still elusive due to its heterogenic nature across diverse geomorphic regions. In this work, therefore, we tried to capture the insights on landscape-aquascape interface by juxtapositioning the impacts of landscape structure pattern on snowmelt stream WQ of the whole Jhelum River Basin (JRB) under three varying spatial scales viz., watershed scale, riparian corridor (1000 m wide) and reach buffer (500 m wide). The percentage of landscape pattern composition and configuration metrics in the JRB were computed in GIS utilizing Landsat-8 OLI/TIRS satellite image having 30 m resolution. To better explicate the influence of land-use metrics on riverine WQ with space and time, we used Redundancy analysis (RDA) and multilinear regression (MLR) modeling. MLR selected land-use structure metrics revealed the varied response of WQ parameters to multi-scale factors except for total faecal coliform bacteria (TC) which showed perpetual presence. The reach-scale explained slightly better (76%) variations in WQ than riparian (75%) and watershed (70%) scales. Likewise, across seasonal scale, autumn (75%), winter (83%), and summer (77%) captured the most WQ variation at catchment, riparian, and reach scales respectively. We observed impairing WQ linkages with agriculture, built-up and barren rocky areas across watersheds, besides, pastures in riparian buffer areas, and fragmentation of landscape patches at the reach scale. Due to little appearance of spatial scale differences, a multi scale perspective landscape planning is emphasized to ensure future sustainability of Kashmir Himalayan water resources.

Insights into the hydrogeological framework of the NW Himalayan Karewas (India)

Karewas which represent the Quarternary sediments deposited in fluvio-lacustrine/fluvio-glacial environment and peripherally surround the valley of the Jhelum river basin in India are highly devoid of surface water resources. The present study is an investigation of the subsurface regime of watersheds of Jhelum basin, encompassing alluvial and Karewa (fluvio-lacustrine) sediments using various software-based techniques with an aim to understand its groundwater scenario. Geological and hydrogeological framework models were developed to infer vertical and horizontal extent of aquifers. The models predict multiple fine sand aquifers in the alluvial sediments, 0.3 to 48 m thick, encountered at 3 to 10 m below the ground level (m bgl); major potential aquifer of 10 to 50 m thickness in Upper Karewa sediments at a depth of 25 to 35 m bgl and about 20 m thick aquifer in Lower Karewa sediments. Water table location obtained by geospatial (stochastic and deterministic) interpolation of static water levels reveals shallow water table at 0.3 to 10 m bgl within almost the entire alluvium region, deepening to 30 m bgl within the Karewa formations. The confining heads vary from a few meters below the ground surface to a few meters above it within alluvium, and much higher within the Karewas attributable to the location of recharge zones within the tall mountains bordering the study area. The study provides a framework for numerical groundwater modelling of the region. The methodology outlined in this study can be applied to diverse geological environments across local or regional scales to understand the hydrogeological conditions therein.