Understanding the Hydrogeological response of various Spring Typology in the Western Himalayan Region
Abstract
The Himalayas is a complex system and is the third largest freshwater deposit of ice and snow in the world, stocked in the form of glaciers. However, in the same region, mountain communities face water scarcity during the lean seasons and are thus primarily dependent on springs for their freshwater needs.
Springs found in the Himalayan system are of different types, and their classification is based on their geological occurrence. The extent, geometry, and hydrological properties of the aquifer exhibit variation in properties and recharge of the springs. In this study, we have tried to record the behavior of mountain springs with seasonal variation. A total of 25 springs with different typologies were tagged for this study. We considered their unique geological characteristics (host rock, aquifer-bearing rock, primary and secondary porosity, hydrogeologically promising zones, and other structural variations) and the dependency of the local people in the inventory exercise. The discharge for all the springs was recorded for each season, and the variation of the spring discharge with change in climate was studied. The typical observation during the study shows how different topology springs present in the same geographical region and receiving the same amount of rainfall behave differently. Field data collection shows that depression spring varied from being dried up in the pre-monsoon season to having discharges of 0.25 lpm to 1 lpm during the post-monsoon season. Fault springs have a high discharge value during the entire year and vary between 2.90 lpm in the pre-monsoon to 1.10 lpm during the post-monsoon season. Two fracture springs show discharge variation from 4.13 & 7.69 lpm in pre-monsoon to 11.56 & 40 lpm in post-monsoon seasons, respectively. Hydrogeological tagging and inventorying of springs further help to provide the best suitable intervention plans to increase the discharge of the springs while keeping in mind the geological and social impacts of the intervention scheme. The recharge in the mountains can aid in mitigating the hazardous effects of climate change. However, the limitations associated with the fragile nature of the Himalayas need to be factored in to develop a holistic plan for fulfilling the water demand in the Himalayan region.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFM.H51C..07A