Oxygen and deuterium isotope characteristics of Teesta river catchment from Sikkim Himalaya, India: Implications of different moisture sources

Ali, Sheikh Nawaz; Sharma, Anupam; Agrawal, Shailesh; Yadava, M. G.; Jani, R. A.; Dubey, Jyotsna; Morthekai, P.

doi:10.2343/geochemj.2.0604

Cited by 11 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…This is consistent with the earlier hypothesis of altitude being the major factor controlling the stable isotopic compositions of the precipitation (Fiorella et al, 2015). Again, previous study found very low δ 18 O composition in the snow of the Changme-Khangpu glacier and that of the meltwater (Changme-Khangpu glacier: À19‰ ± 2‰; Nijampurkar & Rao, 1993, Meltwater: À17.18‰; Ali et al, 2020). So, if snowmelt contribution is the only dominant process in the higher reaches of the basin, then the δ 18 O of the river water at its source should be close to at least À17.18‰ or even more depleted.…”

Section: Deuterium Excess (D-excess)supporting

confidence: 92%

“…where n is the number of samples, r is the correlation coefficient and p is the level of significance. This δ 18 O-δD slope of the BFL of the Teesta River of this study is similar to the slope of Meteoric Water Line of the Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau River system (HTPMWL) (Hren et al, 2009) but higher than the slope of the Teesta River water in previous study (Ali et al, 2020), which yield as follows (Equation (3); Hren et al, 2009 and Equation (4); Ali et al, 2020):…”

Section: δ 18 O-δd Relationshipsupporting

confidence: 83%

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Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ¹⁸O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin

Das

Santosh

2022

Hydrological Processes

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Hydrological processes play an important role in stable isotopic compositional variations of the river water. The present study includes spatial distributions of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes (δD and δ18O) of a Himalayan River (the Teesta) to trace various hydrological processes and their associated roles on isotopic fractionation of river water. The δ18O compositions of the water samples varies between −12.2‰ and −5.4‰ (mean: −8.01‰ ± 1.81‰) and that of δD between −95.1‰ and −38.5‰ (mean: −57.6‰ ± 15.6‰). The observed compositional variation in δ18O, δD and d values of river water is mainly governed through snowmelt input, evaporation, and recycled moisture contribution. The variation of δ18O and δD values point towards an early melting of snow in the basin and a significant contribution of snowmelt to the river water. The orographic induced precipitation front appears to control the hydrological regimes in a distinct manner as reflected in the trend between d values and elevation. The rain shadow affected northern reaches of the basin are characterized with dry & arid climate triggering evaporation whereas, the windward southern side witness temperature influenced evaporation. The study suggests that the differential degree of recycled moisture contribution to the local precipitation is also a key component in bringing the stable isotopic variation in the river water. This varied magnitude of moisture recycling could result from uneven distribution of evapotranspiration and surface water evaporation. Results found that a rapid change in the altitude of a river basin can give rise to different hydrometeorological conditions, thereby resulting in simultaneous operation of almost all the major hydrological processes and a complex isotopic compositional variation in the river water. Also, the rainout percentage in the Teesta basin is found to be higher owing to this rapid rate of elevation increase.

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Section: Deuterium Excess (D-excess)supporting

confidence: 92%

Section: δ 18 O-δd Relationshipsupporting

confidence: 83%

Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ¹⁸O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin

Das

Santosh

2022

Hydrological Processes

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“…While a wealth of studies are available on the status of Himalayan glaciers (e.g., [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]), glacier dynamics (e.g., [33,34]), glacier mapping (e.g., [33][34][35][36][37]), crevasse mapping (e.g., [38]), glacial lake mapping (e.g., [39][40][41]), melt-water geochemistry (e.g., [42,43]), and discharge reconstruction (e.g., [44,45]), the permafrost distribution and the potential impact of its thaw is largely unknown for the most part of the Himalaya [46]. In recent years, several studies have investigated permafrost in the Tibetan plateau [47,48], Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) [49], and Nepalese Himalaya [50].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Permafrost Distribution in Western Himalaya Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations

et al. 2021

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The presence and extent of permafrost in the Himalaya, which is a vital component of the cryosphere, remains severely under-researched with its future climatic-driven trajectory only partly understood and the future consequences on high-altitude ecosystem tentatively sketched out. Previous studies and available permafrost maps for the Himalaya relied primarily upon the modelled meteorological inputs to further model the likelihood of permafrost. Here, as a maiden attempt, we have quantified the distribution of permafrost at 30 m grid-resolution in the Western Himalaya using observations from multisource satellite datasets for estimating input parameters, namely temperature, potential incoming solar radiation (PISR), slope, aspect and land use, and cover. The results have been compared to previous studies and have been validated through field investigations and geomorphological proxies associated with permafrost presence. A large part of the study area is barren land (~69%) due to its extremely resistive climate condition with ~62% of the total area having a mean annual air temperature of (MAAT) <1 °C. There is a high inter-annual variability indicated by varying standard deviation (1–3 °C) associated with MAAT with low standard deviation in southern part of the study area indicating low variations in areas with high temperatures and vice-versa. The majority of the study area is northerly (~36%) and southerly (~38%) oriented, receiving PISR between 1 and 2.5 MW/m2. The analysis of permafrost distribution using biennial mean air temperature (BMAT) for 2002-04 to 2018-20 suggests that the ~25% of the total study area has continuous permafrost, ~35% has discontinuous permafrost, ~1.5% has sporadic permafrost, and ~39% has no permafrost presence. The temporal analysis of permafrost distribution indicates a significant decrease in the permafrost cover in general and discontinuous permafrost in particular, from 2002-04 to 2018-20, with a loss of around 3% for the total area (~8340.48 km2). The present study will serve as an analogue for future permafrost studies to help understand the permafrost dynamics associated with the effects of the recent abrupt rise in temperature and change in precipitation pattern in the region.

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“…The TRB experiences a humid temperate climate with temperature ranging from 1°C in January to 30°C in July, and humidity in the basin remains above 70% throughout the year. The TRB experiences remarkable variation in precipitation and is mainly governed by the elevation difference (Ali et al, 2020). The basin receives mean annual precipitation of 1610 mm (Dhakal et al, 2014) with the maximum rainfall occurring in July (520 mm) and the minimum (32 mm) in December.…”

Section: Characteristics Of the Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic analysis to quantify the role of the Indian monsoon on water resources of selected river basins in the Himalayas

Jeelani

Shah

Deshpande

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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Western disturbances (WDs) and Indian summer monsoon (ISM) led precipitation play a central role in the Himalayan water budget. Estimating their contributions to water resource is although a challenging but essential for hydrologic understanding and effective water resource management. In this study, we used stable water isotope data of precipitation and surface waters to estimate the contribution of ISM and WDs to the water resources in three mountainous river basins ‐ Indus, Bhagirathi and Teesta river basins of western, central and Eastern Himalayas. The study reveals distinct seasonality in isotope characteristics of precipitation and surface waters in each river basin is due to changes in moisture source, hydrometeorology and relief. Despite steady spatial variance in the slope and intercept of regression lines from the Teesta to Indus and the Bhagirathi river basins, the slope and intercept are close to the global meteoric water line and reported local meteoric water line of other regions in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. The two‐component end‐member mixing method using d‐excess as tracer were used to estimate the contribution from ISM and WD led precipitation to surface water in aforementioned river basins. The results suggest that the influence of the ISM on the water resources is high (>72% to annual river flow) in Teesta river basin (eastern Himalayas), while as the WDs led precipitation is dominantly contributing (>70% average annual river flow) to the surface waters in the Indus river basin (western Himalayas). The contribution of ISM and WD led precipitation in Bhagirathi river basin is 60% and 40%, respectively. The findings demonstrate that the unusual changes in the ISM and WD moisture dynamics have the potential to affect the economy and food security of the region, which is dependent on the availability of water resources. The obtained results are of assistance to policy makers/mangers to make use of the information for better understanding hydrologic response amid unusual behaviour of the dual monsoon system over the region.

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Oxygen and deuterium isotope characteristics of Teesta river catchment from Sikkim Himalaya, India: Implications of different moisture sources

Cited by 11 publications

References 60 publications

Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ¹⁸O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin

Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ¹⁸O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin

Modelling Permafrost Distribution in Western Himalaya Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations

Isotopic analysis to quantify the role of the Indian monsoon on water resources of selected river basins in the Himalayas

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Oxygen and deuterium isotope characteristics of Teesta river catchment from Sikkim Himalaya, India: Implications of different moisture sources

Cited by 11 publications

References 60 publications

Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ18O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin

Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ18O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin

Modelling Permafrost Distribution in Western Himalaya Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations

Isotopic analysis to quantify the role of the Indian monsoon on water resources of selected river basins in the Himalayas

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ¹⁸O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin

Stable isotopic variations (δD and δ¹⁸O) in a mountainous river with rapidly changing altitude: Insight into the hydrological processes and rainout in the basin