Gh Jeelani

University of Kashmir · Department of Earth Sciences

Geogenic Arsenic (As) is one of the known toxicants which poses a serious threat of arsenicosis and other carcinogenic diseases to millions of people in Himalaya. Although, As enrichment in groundwater has been linked to primary provenances (sediment sources) but its distribution controlled by geomorphic settings is least studied. The present study...

Groundwater plays an important role in socio-economics and ecosystem development in mountainous catchments of Himalaya. However, enriched geogenic pollutants in groundwater e.g. Fluoride (F− ) and Arsenic (As) in many aquifer systems has deteriorated its suitability for drinking purpose. Although, F− enrichment in other Himalayan basins is well d...

Western disturbances (WDs) are synoptic-scale weather systems embedded within the subtropical westerly jet. Manifesting as upper-level troughs often associated with a lower-tropospheric low over Western India, they share some dynamical features with extratropical cyclones. WDs are most common during the boreal winter (December to March), during whi...

Upper Indus Basin (UIB), being climatologically sensitive and socio-economically important, has emerged as a hotspot for eco-hydrological studies. Permafrost, one of the essential components of the regional hydrological cycle with a critical role in microclimate, is also an important water resource in the UIB. Despite being an important componen...

Geogenic groundwater contaminants (GGCs) affect drinking-water availability and safety, with up to 60% of groundwater sources in some regions contaminated by more than recommended concentrations. As a result, an estimated 300-500 million people are at risk of severe health impacts and premature mortality. In this Review, we discuss the sources, occ...

Glaciers are the main source of freshwater supply to millions of people living in different Himalayan basins. A reliable amount of water generated from these glaciers is highly significant for the social and economic development of the region. However, due to recent climate change, these potential water resources are under serious threat of retreat...

In western Himalayas groundwater is one of the most significant source of freshwater playing an important role in sustaining the social and economic stability of the region. However, this resource is under serious threat of depletion and contamination as a result of global climatic variability and anthropogenic pressures. Thus, evaluating potential...

Climate change differentially influences the frozen ground, a major dynamic component of the cryosphere, on a local and regional scale. Under the warming climate with pronounced effects reported at higher altitudes, the characterization of the frozen ground is very important in the Upper Indus Basin (UIB), an important and critical region wit...

Karst springs are important water sources for both human needs and environmental flows. The responses of karst springs to hydrometeorological factors vary depending on local conditions. In this study, we investigated Martandnag spring in the Liddar catchment in the Kashmir valley of northern India. We used statistical time series (autocorrelation a...

While studying the Western Disturbances (WDs) and associated precipitation forming mechanism in changing time, we found that there is significant amount of precipitation received during Non-WDs days too. In addition, it is also highlighted that all the WDs don’t precipitate. And hence cumulative winter precipitation is kind of summation of all the...

The Spiti region, renowned as the Museum of Indian Geology, is a world-famous sedimentary succession containing well-exposed sequences from Neoproterozoic to Cretaceous age. In this study, Triassic siliciclastic sedi-mentary rocks of the Lilang Supergroup were chosen to understand weathering history, provenance, paleoclimate, and depositional condi...

Context: NLRP9 is a member of nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat-containing receptors and is found to be associated with many inflammatory diseases. In the current scenario, the identification of promising anti-inflammatory compounds from natural sources by repurposing approach is still relevant for the early prevention and effective ma...

The meltwater generated from the Himalayan mountain system is an important source of freshwater sustaining hydrological, ecological and biological activities in upstream and downstream regions. Under a warming climate, the cryospheric cover is shrinking, altering the availability of freshwater to ~53 million people living in the upper and lower par...

Groundwater is one of the substantial sources of freshwater and plays an important role in sustaining the biodiversity of the Himalayas. However, with the limited availability of surface water resources due to global warming and anthropogenic practices, groundwater resource is under the severe threat of reduction and contamination. Hence, it become...

Lacustrine Groundwater Discharge (LGD) is a complex process that controls lake characteristics and plays a dominant role in modifying the hydrological and chemical budget of a lake. The current study was carried out with the aim to assess the groundwater discharge component of the hydrological budget of an urban Himalayan lake. We used natural trac...

Lakes are important natural water source exploited by man at different times and respond quickly to any natural or anthropogenic contamination, particularly in urban areas due to poor planning and mismanagement. In the present study we used geochemistryto assess provenance, chemical weathering and related health risk assessment of the bottom sedime...

Stable water isotopic analysis of oxygen and hydrogen (δ 18 O and δ 2 H) in stream waters, glacier melt and precipitation were used to investigate hydrological pathways and residence times in snow and glacier dominant mountainous sub-basins of Ladakh (UIRB). A significant spatial and temporal variation in precipitation, stream water and glacier mel...

Groundwater is one of the essential freshwater sources after the cryosphere in the Himalayas, which plays an important role in terrestrial and aquatic life systems. Evaluating the potential groundwater recharge zones is vital to check water quality and for sustainable development. In this chapter, geospatial methods were used to recognize and map t...

The river water is a significant source of fresh water sustaining the terrestrial and aquatic life forms in Himalayas. A reliable water supply in rivers/streams of different Himalayan basins is increasingly important for the hydro-economic policies. Hence it becomes prerequisite to quantify and estimate the source waters of river flow for sustainab...

Snowmelt, being a major freshwater resource plays a significant role in domestic and agricultural activities of billions of people living in upstream and downstream regions of Indus river Basin (IRB). However, recent climate warming poses serious threat, with a potential to alter the social and economic stability of billions of people living in IRB...

Karst aquifers provide tremendous benefits to the people in the Indian subcontinent, but their studies are limited due to scanty observational data.This study examines the ionic and stable isotopic composition of water samples (n = 233 collected between 2012 and 2014) from karst springs in the western Himalayas to determine geogenic and anthropogen...

Lakes are sensitive ecosystems and respond quickly to any natural or anthropogenic contamination, particularly in urban areas due to poor planning and mismanagement in urban settlement, encroachment, and anthropogenic pollution. In the current study, water and sediment geochemistry are used along with available time series of geospatial data sets t...

River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB r...

The main central thrust (MCT) is one of the major thrusts in Himalayas. In central Himalaya, MCT was defined as a contact between underlying Lesser Himalayan Sequence (LHS) and overlying higher Himalayan crystallines (HHC). However, in the Kashmir Himalayas, the main central thrust zone (MCTZ), shear zone associated with MCT, is overlain by Kashmir...

The stable isotopes of water (δ O and δD) were employed to identify the source of precipitation (rain), surface waters and groundwater in Srinagar, Kashmir Valley (India). In case of surface waters, δ O and δD values range from -8.90‰ to -4.70‰ and 52.47‰ to -29.78‰, respectively, whereas in groundwater δ O and δD values range from -8.55‰ to -6.21‰...

The study of trace metals and radionuclides has gained impetus due to their health hazardous potential in an environment. The physico-chemical, trace metal and radioactivity assessment in soils of western Himalaya (across Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh) has been put forth in this study. The main objectives are to evaluate trace metal distribution and ac...

A reliable water supply in different Himalayan River basins is increasingly important for domestic, agriculture, and hydropower generation. These water resources are under serious threat due to climate change, with the potential to alter the economic stability of 237 million people living in the Indus River Basin alone. In the present study, we use...

Snow and glaciers in upper Indus river basin, Ladakh are significant source of fresh water to billions of people in Ladakh and downstream. However, the evolution of snow and glacier melt and contribution of snow and glacier melt to stream flow remains unquantified particularly in Ladakh Himalayas. For the first time we used the stable water isotope...

Water resources originating from the alpine snow, glacier, recent precipitation and groundwater in the Kashmir Himalayas are important sources of fresh water to millions of people downstream. In the Upper Jhelum Basin (UJB) an increase in temperature has led to reduction in glacier cover and modification in the snowfall pattern (Jeelani et al., 201...

https://www.essoar.org/doi/abs/10.1002/essoar.10510398.1

We used stable water isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen to identify and estimate the seasonal contribution of precipitation to the regional hydrology of Sindh and Rambiara catchments of western Himalayas. The different source waters exhibit significant spatio-temporal variations that correspond to the change in seasonal meteorology, precipitation form...

Groundwater is a significant source of fresh and clean water to millions of people living in the Upper Jhelum Basin (UJB) of Kashmir, India. During the past two to three decades the decline of water table in the shallow aquifers led to a reduction of spring discharge and/or drying up of some springs and wells. In the present study, hydrogeological...

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 precipitati...

In the present study, we used stable water isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δD) of source waters (rain, snow, and glacier melt) and groundwater to identify and estimate the sources of recharge in alluvial aquifer(s). The stable water isotopic composition of source waters showed a significant correlation with altitude (R²=0.75). Unlike source waters, the groundwa...

Major river basins of the Himalayas contain a significant amount of arsenic (As) in the geological matrix, which tends to contaminate the groundwater at a local and regional scale. Although As enrichment in Quaternary deposits has been linked to primary provenances (Himalayan orogeny), limited studies have reported As enrichment in bedrock aquifers...

Snow and glaciers are important freshwater resources in the Himalayan catchments for all biological activities. However, under recent climate change, these resources are decreasing, thereby posing a serious threat to the future freshwater resources among the Himalayan catchments. Therefore, understanding the hydrological behavior and sources of str...

The karst aquifers of India are an indispensable source of water to millions of people but the current globalization and climate change have altered the hydrological and other processes and thus have threatened the sustainability of the groundwater reserves in both quantity and quality. The study aims to conceptualize the recharge processes and est...

Groundwater resources play a key role in sustaining irrigated agriculture and providing domestic water supplies in the trans-boundary Upper Indus River Basin. Understanding groundwater recharge and flow pathways in Upper Indus Basin is critical to good groundwater management, yet groundwater recharge sources remain poorly quantified. Here new datas...

The study describes the chemical analysis of water and sediment to understand the hydrogeochemical processes, chemical weathering rates and its intensities in the upper river Jhelum and its major tributaries in Kashmir Basin, Western HimalayaHimalayas. A total of 50 water samples and 15 riverbed sediment samples were analyzed. It was found that Ca...

Twenty-seven water samples including precipitation (3), streams (6) and springs (18) from Bringi watershed, southeast Kashmir were bimonthly collected for 1 year and analysed for ionic concentrations, stable isotopes and tritium. The objectives of the study were to recognize the site of recharge for Karst springs, components and mechanism of ground...

The present work focussed on demarcation of areas with cancer development risk through excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) by assessing spatial variability of gamma dose in outdoor and indoor environment in western Himalaya. Average outdoor gamma dose and outdoor annual effective dose exceed the corresponding world averages. An indoor gamma dose (ba...

Precipitation over the southern rim of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) mainly occurs due to two dominant synoptic weather systems: Indian winter (IWM: December, January, February) and summer monsoon (ISM: June, July, August, September). The genesis and evolution of these systems are extensively researched. Additionally, geographical location, sea...

Stable water isotopic analysis of oxygen and hydrogen (δ18O and δ2H) in stream waters, glacier melt and precipitation were used to investigate hydrological pathways and residence times in snow and glacier dominant mountainous sub-basins of Ladakh (UIRB). A significant spatial and temporal variation in precipitation, stream water and glacier melt sa...

Arsenic (As) concentration in groundwater is one of the worst problems we are facing owing to its carcinogenic effect. The problem should therefore be addressed scientifically. Although groundwater Arsenic (As) enrichment is reported in many basins across the globe, still scientists have long way to go. In the present study we present new As data i...

The development of isotope hydrology in Kashmir Himalayas is briefly reviewed. Annual and monthly variabilities of δ18O and δ2H relationships, the altitude effect, the temperature effect and amount effects were calculated. The studies suggested that the western disturbances (WDS) dominantly contribute greater than 70% to the water resources of the...

Many sedimentary aquifers across the globe are contaminated with As, a known toxicant and carcinogen, thereby making millions of people vulnerable to a health hazard. Although the source of As enrichment is being linked to the provenance of the sediments (i.e. hard rocks), there are limited studies of groundwater As enrichment in hard rock areas. I...

Water resources in the northwestern Himalayas are influenced by the circulation of two dominant weather systems: westerlies and southwest monsoons. The effect of climate change has significantly influenced the overall behaviour of these precipitation bearing climate systems and therefore, the meteorology of the region. To investigate the source, tr...

Snowpack and glacial melt samples were collected to understand the hydrochemical, isotopic characteristics and the source of Hg contamination in high altitude glacierized Himalayan catchment. Both the snow and glacial melt were acidic in nature with calcium and magnesium as the dominant cations and bicarbonate and chloride as the dominant anions. T...

It is about variation of Stable water Isotopes in precipitation, groundwater and surface water of Kashmir valley

Ladakh or the land of high passes is a cold desert in India that lies in the Greater Himalayas on the eastern side of Jammau and Kashmir State. It is a favourite tourist destination due to its scenic beauty, barren, rugged terrain and majestic mountains. In order to understand the influence of aridity on the isotopic composition (O and D) of precip...

Surface and underground karst features, such as karren, dolines, sinking streams, caves and large freshwater and thermal springs are developed in Triassic Limestone in the southern Kashmir Valley. The rock formation has a high hydraulic conductivity (K), up to 1,000 m d-1 and constitutes one of the most productive aquifers in the region. Springs di...

The flow of the Himalayan rivers, a key source of fresh water for more than a billion people primarily depends upon the strength, behaviour and duration of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and the western disturbances (WD), two contrasting circulation regimes of the regional atmosphere. An analysis of the ²H and ¹⁸O isotope composition of daily prec...

In Kashmir Valley the carbonate rocks cover an area of about 1100 km2, of which 58% lie towards the southern part. Carbonate lithology in the form of Triassic Limestone constitute significant karst geomorphologic imprints including solution features, swallow holes, conduits, shafts, caves and large springs. Hydrochemical data of major springs of Ka...

Environmental isotopes including δ18O, δ2H and 3H of precipitation, streams and springs were determined in the mountainous Bringi catchment of Kashmir Himalaya, dominated by carbonate lithology. The isotopic signature of winter precipitation is reflected in stream and spring water in late spring and is, therefore, representative of snow melting. Th...

Precipitation samples were collected across the Himalayas from Kashmir (western Himalaya) to Assam (eastern Himalaya) to understand the variation of the stable isotopic content (\(\updelta ^{18}\)O and \(\updelta \)D) in precipitation associated with two dominant weather systems of the region: western disturbances (WDs) and Indian summer monsoon (I...

The flow of the Himalayan rivers, a key source of fresh water to more than a billion people primarily depends upon the strength, behaviour and duration of Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Western Disturbances (WD), two contrasting circulation regimes of the regional atmosphere. Analysis of ²H and ¹⁸O isotope composition of daily precipitation collec...

Western Himalaya is a strategically important region, where the water resources are shared by China, India and Pakistan. The economy of the region is largely dependent on the water resources delivered by snow and glacier melt. The presented study used stable isotopes of water to further understand the basin-scale hydro-meteorological, hydrological...

Karst, a geomorphic landscape that arises from the combination of high rock solubility and well developed subsurface drainage networks on rock types that are easily dissolved by water notably carbonate rocks such as limestone, dolomite or marble (Bretz 1942; Sweeting 1981; Jennings 1985; Palmer 1991, 2007; Bloom 1998; Klimchouk et al. 2000; Gunn 20...

Glaciers in the Himalayan Mountain system are undergoing rapid retreat, and the global climate change has a significant impact on it. In the present study, we used stable water isotope and remote sensing data to understand the impact of climate on melting behavior of some high-altitude glaciers in two glacier-fed basins of western Himalaya, India....

It is important to have qualitative as well as quantitative understanding of the hydraulic exchange between lake and groundwater for effective water resource management. Dal, a famous urban fresh water lake, plays a fundamental role in social, cultural and economic dynamics of the Kashmir Valley. In this paper geochemical, isotopic and hydrological...

In present study, we used hydrochemistry and travel time to evaluate the vulnerability assessment of groundwater in karst aquifers of the Kashmir Valley, India. Water samples (n=210) were collected monthly from some major karst springs besides five tracer experiments were also performed during the year 2013-2014. The study suggests that deteriorati...

Recharge assessment is a challenge in snow and glacier dominated Himalayan basins. Quantification of recharge to karst springs in these complex geological environments is important both for hydrologic understanding and for effective water resource management. We used spring hydrographs and environmental tracers (isotopes and solutes) to distinguish...

The mean residence time (MRT) of karst groundwater in three mountainous catchments of Western Himalaya was estimated using multiple approaches: tritium, sine wave model and tracer tests. Water samples were collected from precipitation, glacier melt, streams and karst springs for δ²H and tritium analysis during 2012 and 2013. The higher tritium valu...

Dal Lake, a famous urban fresh water lake, plays a fundamental role in the social, cultural and economic dynamics of the Kashmir Valley. A detailed study was carried out to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on the chemical quality of water in the Lake. Monthly water samples were collected in 2014 and 2015 from 28 sites across the lake....

The regional climate of the Himalayas is predominated by the southwest monsoons and the western disturbances. The uplift of the Pir Panjal to its present height is believed to restrict the southwest monsoons from entering into the Kashmir Valley in the western Himalayas. In the present study, monthly precipitation samples were collected across the...

Estimation of groundwater-lake water interaction is essential for both water quantity and water quality management decisions. Dal Lake, a famous urban fresh water lake, plays a fundamental role in the social, cultural and economic dynamics of the Srinagar city. Isotopic composition of δ 18 O and δ 2 H in groundwater showed similar isotopic signatur...

Water samples (n= 100) were collected from karst springs to understand the hydrogeochemical processes controlling the chemical composition and quality of groundwater in karstified mountainous catchment of western Himalaya. The results suggest that congruent carbonate dissolution (calcite dissolution, dedolomitization), incongruent silicate weatheri...

River Jhelum is a major source of water for growing population and irrigation in the Kashmir Himalaya. The region is trending towards water scarcity as well as quality deterioration stage due to its highly unregulated development. The existence of few literature on various aspects of the basin prompts us to study the spatio-temporal variability of...

Snow- and glacier-dominated catchments in the Himalayas are important sources of fresh water to more than one billion people. However, the contribution of snowmelt and glacier melt to stream flow remains largely unquantified in most parts of the Himalayas. We used environmental isotopes and geochemical tracers to determine the source water and flow...

Water resources in western Himalayas (Kashmir valley) are irregularly distributed in space and time. Effective utilization of the water resources is an imperative task due to climate change. Assessing the potential zones of groundwater recharge is extremely important for the protection of water quality and the management of groundwater systems. Sin...

Dal Lake, a famous urban fresh water lake, plays a fundamental role in the social, cultural and economic dynamics of the Kashmir Valley. A detailed study was carried out to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on the chemical quality of water in the Lake. Monthly water samples were collected in 2014 and 2015 from 28 sites across the lake....

Water samples were collected from precipitation, streams and karst springs of the mountainous Bringi catchment of Kashmir Himalayas for major ions, stable isotopes (δ 18O and δD) and 3H analysis. The main objective is to identify the potential recharge area for karst springs. The water in the Triassic limestone aquifer of the Bringi watershed is ch...

This study presents a detailed textural and geochemical study of sediments of river Jhelum and its tributaries of Kashmir valley. The textural studies clearly established that the sediments were dominantly of medium grain size, moderately sorted and very positively skewed. The kurtosis suggested dominantly leptokurtic nature of sediments. The sedim...

Fifty water samples were collected during high flow (June 2008) and low flow (January 2009) periods from River Jhelum and its tributaries located in Kashmir valley, Western Himalaya, to carry out hydrogeochemical assessment for domestic, livestock and irrigation purposes. The high flow period represents the summer season, and the low flow period re...

This paper presents the inventory study on the Dal Lake, the second largest fresh water lake in Kashmir Valley, India. A total of 336 water samples were monthly collected to assess the present scenario of weathering and anthropogenic impact on water for hydrological year (2012–2013). The results showed a significant spatio-temporal (monthly and bas...

Glacier melt and snowmelt are the dominant and permanent sources of runoff in most of the mountainous catchments of the western Himalaya. Keeping in view the complexity of the topography, the measurement of streamflow near the glacial snout or at higher altitudes is difficult. The methods used in planes are not suitable under these conditions. In t...

Water samples were collected from cold and warm karst springs for stable isotopes (δ18O & δD) and 3H from SE of Kashmir valley (western Himalayas) to distinguish the sources of recharge and infer their recharge areas. The spring water samples were most depleted in heavier isotopes in May (average δ18O: -8.87‰ and δD: -50.3‰) and enriched in Septemb...

INTRODUCTION Martand karst spring, one of the major karst springs in Kashmir Valley with a mean discharge of 0.7 m3/sec supplies water to more than 15,246 local population for drinking purposes. For sustainable groundwater resource management continuous measurements and monitoring of karst water resources is very important and pre requisite for be...

Sampling was carried out during October 2008, with a view to understand the source of nitrate ions in the groundwater of Budgam District. Eleven sampling sites were selected and samples were taken for a baseline study and overall physico-chemical characteristics were studied. Results showed that NO3− concentration ranged from 7.4 mg/L to 9.8 mg/L w...

We modified a passive capillary sampler (PCS) to collect snowmelt water for isotopic analysis. Past applications of PCSs have been to sample soil water, but the novel aspect of this study was the placement of the PCSs at the ground-snowpack interface to collect snowmelt. We deployed arrays of PCSs at 11 sites in ten partner countries on five contin...

Groundwater samples (n = 163) were collected across Kashmir Valley in 2010 to assess the hydrogeochemistry of the groundwater in shallow and deep aquifers and its suitability for domestic, agriculture, horticulture, and livestock purposes. The groundwater is generally alkaline in nature. The electrical conductivity (EC) which is an index to represe...

Hydrogeochemical assessment of precipitation, streams and springs of Bringi watershed, SE Kashmir has revealed that Ca and HCO3 are the dominant ions, making up more than 50% of the total ions, which indicates carbonate lithology as the dominant source of ionic species. However, increased Na in some samples, particularly Kongamnag, indicates the im...