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Grain-size distribution, morphoscopy and elemental chemistry of suspended sediments of Pindari Glacier, Kumaon Himalaya, India

IR@CIMFR: CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad

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Title Grain-size distribution, morphoscopy and elemental chemistry of suspended sediments of Pindari Glacier, Kumaon Himalaya, India
 
Creator Singh, Abhay Kumar
 
Subject Envieronmental Management Group
 
Description Suspended sediment concentrations in the meltwater of Pindari Glacier were determined at regular intervals in four ablation seasons. The late ablation periods (September 1994 and October 1995) were characterized by a reduced level of sediment concentration, while the sampling periods of early ablation (May 1994 and July 1995) showed very high concentrations of suspended sediment in the meltwater. Grain size distribution shows the dominance of medium and coarse silt fractions of the mean size of the suspended sediments between 4.35 and 5.82 (j>. Clay size constitutes about 7% of the total size population. The majority of the samples are poorly sorted, symmetrically to finely skewed and mesokurtic in nature. The grain shows texture of mechanical and chemical origin, in which mechanical texture is predominant on most of the grains. It was observed that the grains were mostly subangular to subrounded in shape with variable size ranges. Bulk sediment chemistry consists mostly (>70%) of the five elements, Si, Al, K, Fe and Mg. Iron (Fe) and Mn are dominant heavy metals and sediments show the elemental abundance in the order of Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu > Ni > Pb. The Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) of suspended sediments (57) is relatively higher than in the case of average unweathered upper continental crust (-50) indicating a higher degree of weathering due to glacier grinding and crushing action. Quartz is the most dominant mineral, followed by mica, illite, feldspar and kaolinite.
 
Date 2002-04
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://cimfr.csircentral.net/200/1/36.pdf
Singh, Abhay Kumar (2002) Grain-size distribution, morphoscopy and elemental chemistry of suspended sediments of Pindari Glacier, Kumaon Himalaya, India. Hydrological Science Journal , 47 (2). pp. 213-226.
 
Relation http://cimfr.csircentral.net/200/