Deuterium and oxygen-18 studies in groundwater of the Delhi area, India

✍ Scribed by Brijraj K. Das; Y.P. Kakar; H. Moser; W. Stichler

• Book ID: 115971723
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 729 KB
• Volume: 98
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-1694
• DOI: 10.1016/0022-1694(88)90210-7

✦ Synopsis

Groundwater in the Delhi area occurs under different hydrogeological conditions: west of the Delhi Ridge, closed basin of Chattarpur, between the Ridge and the Yamuna River and east of the Yamuna River with depth to the water table ranging from 1.53 to 19.12m below ground level.A comparison of isotopic data of groundwater with that of rainfall (during the period 1961-78) indicates that groundwater in all the subbasins and at different depths is of meteoric origin having undergone direct evaporation and is genetically similar. Deviation of the points from the meteoric line on a D-lSO diagram is attributed to evaporation from falling rain drops and retardation in infiltration rate of rainwater, the latter due to the predominance of clayey soils at several places. The present study has shown that the major sources of high salinity are high rate of evaporation, recycling of irrigation water, and re-solution of precipitated minerals by monsoon recharge along with nonflushing of deeper waters. This is contrary to the findings of earlier workers who proposed that the high salinity of groundwater is related to marine origin and]or fallout of airborne salts from the Arabian Sea.