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Snowmelt runoff and groundwater discharge in Himalayan rivers: a case study of the Satluj River, NW India

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Abstract

The Himalayas are one of the largest cryospheric systems outside the Polar Regions, and include more than 12,000 glaciers spread over an area of about 33,000 km2. The Himalayan glaciers and snow packs retreating at an accelerating rate, thereby creating an alarming situation for the huge population that resides in northwestern India and southeastern Pakistan, as they depend on surface water resources in the region and rivers emanating from the Himalayas. This work attempts to quantify the contribution of different sources such as glacial/ice/snow melt and groundwater discharge to the Satluj River using the stable isotopes based hydrograph separation method at Ropar (foot hill) and Yusufpur in plain of Punjab, India. A mass balance model of three-component mixing has been engaged using the values of δ18O and electrical conductivity of the river water, and its discharge fraction, to estimate the time-varying relative proportion of each component from July 2013 to January 2014. The proportion of glacier melt was found to peak up to ~ 64% at Ropar and ~ 15% at Yusufpur during the wet summer months. The fraction of groundwater discharge was found to vary between 10–20% at Ropar and 25–35% at Yusufpur (Punjab plain) over time. The observed trend of d-excess (deuterium excess) values of river water also suggests that the glaciers and snow packs at higher altitudes contain a significant fraction of snow derived from vapor originating in the Mediterranean region, driven by the mid-latitude westerlies known as western disturbances.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna for providing partial funding for the study in the form of Project (CRP17391India) to SPR. The authors acknowledge the Director, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee and Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee for helping in carrying out the study. Authors are also thankful to IWIN National Programme (PRL, Ahmedabad) for sharing isotope data of precipitation from Kangra Valley. Ms Neha Rarh and Mr A K Ojha are thankfully acknowledged for drafting the figures; and authors are also thankful to anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and suggestions to improve the quality of manuscript.

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  1. S. P. Rai

    Present address: Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, 247667, India

    A. S. Maurya, N. Joshi, K. S. Dutt & N. Rai

  2. National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, 247667, India

    S. P. Rai

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  1. A. S. Maurya
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Maurya, A.S., Rai, S.P., Joshi, N. et al. Snowmelt runoff and groundwater discharge in Himalayan rivers: a case study of the Satluj River, NW India. Environ Earth Sci 77, 694 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7849-9

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