Preliminary Study on the Decadal Changes in Temperature and Rainfall on the Hydrochemistry of Surface and Groundwater in Coleroon River Estuarine Zone, East Coast of India

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Prakash, R. | Srinivasamoorthy, K.^{; *} | Gopinath, S. | Saravanan, K.

Affiliations: Department of Earth Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry – 605014, India

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding Author. moorthy_ks@yahoo.com

Abstract: Estuaries are zones of interaction and transition between groundwater and the sea where dissolved constituents like pollutants, nutrients, etc. can be diluted, exchanged, transformed and consumed. An attempt has been made in the Coleroon river estuary, India by hydrochemical evaluation, ionic ratios and nutrient flux to characterize the submarine groundwater discharge with respect to climate change. Selected ground water and surface water samples were collected during two different seasons and analyzed for major, minor ions and nutrients. Groundwater samples represent acidic to alkaline nature irrespective of seasons. Larger variations were noted in the chemical constituents with reference to seasonal climate changes. Hill piper plot suggests evolution of groundwater from saline to fresh facies during POM seasons. The ionic ratio plot suggests fresh groundwater discharge, saline intrusion, cation exchange and anthropogenic sources controlling the groundwater chemistry. Nutrients chemistry signifies addition during dryer season due to leaching from artificial fertilizers. On comparison the influence of climate change were identical in surface and groundwater chemistry. Higher concentration recorded during PRM and POM 2015 might be due to higher velocity of water flow due to higher rainfall which has higher dissolved ions and transported more ionic concentrations from the litho units. Changes in precipitation and temperature due to climate change influences seem to control the quality of water in the study area.

Keywords: Submarine groundwater discharge, Nutrient flux, Climate change

DOI: 10.3233/JCC-170013

Journal: Journal of Climate Change, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 43-58, 2017