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Environmental chemistry of a rare muddy snowfall occurrence on Alpine zone glaciers of Gulmarg, Kashmir Himalaya, India

F.A. Lone1 * , M.A. Khan1 , N. Qureshi1 , N.A. Kirmani2 , S.H. Sidiquee3 and R.A. Shah3

1 Division of Environmental Sciences, S.K.University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmi, Srinagar, 191 121 India

2 Division of Soil Sciences, S.K.University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, 191 121 India

3 Division of Agri-Statistics, S.K.University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, 191 121 India

4 Department of Bio-Sciences, Jammia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110 025 India

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.5.2.08

The Kashmir Himalayan valley witnessed some unique environmental pollution phenomena including black snow and outbreak of red-tide in lacustrine systems during early 1991. The occurrence of a rare muddy snowfall in May 2002 on high altitude (>4300 m.asl) Afarwat glaciers in the alpine zone (near Gulmarg) of Pir Panjal mountainous range of the Kashmir Himalaya indicates changing environmental scenario of the region. The principal hydrochemistry of the snow samples collected from the glacier revealed relatively high pH values (6.2-6.9) as compared to low records (pH;5.6) in snow samples of the valley-floor (alt.1600 m). The ionic composition showed relatively high values (u eq L-1) of chloride (12), carbonates (20), bicarbonates (36) and silicates (19) in the top-most layer of the glacier whilst dissolved oxygen and dissolved organic matter were below detection levels. On the contrary, low levels of nitrate (3.3 u eq L-1) and ammonical-nitrogen (2.8 u eq L-1) were recorded in glacier snow samples compared to valley-floor samples. The comparison with published works from other regions of the world indicates that the ionic concentration is higher in the glacier snow of the Kashmir Himalaya.


Chemical Environment; Comparison; Himalayan Glacier; Kashmir; Muddy Snow; World-Records

Copy the following to cite this article:

Lone F.A, Khan M. A, Qureshi N, Kirmani N. A, Sidiquee S.H, Shah R. A. Environmental chemistry of a rare muddy snowfall occurrence on Alpine zone glaciers of Gulmarg, Kashmir Himalaya, India. Curr World Environ 2010;5(2):271-278 DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.5.2.08

Copy the following to cite this URL:

Lone F.A, Khan M. A, Qureshi N, Kirmani N. A, Sidiquee S.H, Shah R. A. Environmental chemistry of a rare muddy snowfall occurrence on Alpine zone glaciers of Gulmarg, Kashmir Himalaya, India. Curr World Environ 2010;5(2):271-278. Available from: http://www.cwejournal.org?p=284/

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