Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios in groundwaters and river waters from India

Abstract

A comprehensive set of measurements of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios in groundwaters as well as waters from rivers, lakes, hot springs etc. taken from a variety of locations in India has been carried out for the first time. Isotopically the most depleted samples occur in the high altitude precipitations in the Himalayas e.g. in the lakes of Bhutan and the source water of the Ganga. The shallow groundwater data display a continental effect where the heavy isotope content decreases with distance from the coast (about 4 to 6 per mil decrease in δ¹⁸O per 1000 km). The δ D and δ¹⁸O of these fresh waters are linearly related and an analysis of this relation vis-a-vis the meteoric water line shows the unambiguous effect of enrichment due to evaporation from soils.