Regional-scale stable isotopic signatures of recharge and deep groundwater in the arsenic affected areas of West Bengal, India

Abhijit Mukherjee; Alan E. Fryar; Harold D. Rowe

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2006.10.004

Regional-scale stable isotopic signatures of recharge and deep groundwater in the arsenic affected areas of West Bengal, India

Abhijit Mukherjee, Alan E. Fryar, Harold D. Rowe

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

125 Scopus citations

Abstract

Samples of deep groundwater, river water and rainwater were collected for δ¹⁸O and δ²H analyses from an area of ∼22,000 km² in the arsenic-affected districts of West Bengal, India, in order to examine groundwater recharge. A plot of δ¹⁸O versus δ²H of groundwater falls subparallel to the constructed local meteoric water line (δ²H = 7.2 δ¹⁸O + 7.7), suggesting a predominance of meteoric recharge with some evaporation. The stable isotopic signature of groundwater from the deeper part of the semiconfined main aquifer is similar to that of shallower groundwater, which suggests that deeper groundwater has been recharged in the present-day climatic regime, mostly from monsoonal rainfall. Groundwater in deeper isolated aquifers falls within the isotopic range observed for the main aquifer. A trend of isotopic depletion of groundwater that extends northward and westward from the Bay of Bengal (the monsoonal moisture source area) indicates a rain-out process following Rayleigh-type distillation. Some recharge may have taken place from the rivers Ganges and Bhagirathi-Hoogly, with minimal inflow from other rivers (Jalangi and Ichamati).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	151-161
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Hydrology
Volume	334
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2006.10.004
State	Published - Feb 20 2007

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project could not have been executed without the cooperation of the Public Health Engineering Directorate, Government of West Bengal. However, the ideas presented in this paper are those of the authors and have not been officially endorsed by the Government of West Bengal or any other person or organization. Special thanks to P.K. De, A. Banerjee, A. Bhattacharya, and G. RoyChowdhury (PHED) for helping with selection of sampling sites. The authors gratefully acknowledge the immense assistance provided by T. Datta and B. Hazra (PHED), Barindra Lal Mukherjee and Murali Singh (Calcutta), Sudipta Rakshit (Plant and Soil Science, University of Kentucky), and Basanamoy Moitra (Shantipur) in sample collection; B.M. Engineering (KrishnaNagar) in supplying lithologs; Bob King (UK ERTL) and Dr. Chris Eastoe (University of Arizona) with sample analyses; Dr. Helena Truszczynska (UK) for helping with statistical analyses; and Dr. Steve Fisher (Kentucky Geological Survey) and an anonymous reviewer for comments on the manuscript. The project was financially supported by the University of Kentucky (Department of Geological Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, and the Graduate School), the Kentucky NSF-EPSCoR program, and the Geological Society of America (Grant No. 7751-04). Last but not least, the authors are sincerely grateful to the inhabitants of West Bengal for the hospitality and cooperation provided during the fieldwork.

Funding

This project could not have been executed without the cooperation of the Public Health Engineering Directorate, Government of West Bengal. However, the ideas presented in this paper are those of the authors and have not been officially endorsed by the Government of West Bengal or any other person or organization. Special thanks to P.K. De, A. Banerjee, A. Bhattacharya, and G. RoyChowdhury (PHED) for helping with selection of sampling sites. The authors gratefully acknowledge the immense assistance provided by T. Datta and B. Hazra (PHED), Barindra Lal Mukherjee and Murali Singh (Calcutta), Sudipta Rakshit (Plant and Soil Science, University of Kentucky), and Basanamoy Moitra (Shantipur) in sample collection; B.M. Engineering (KrishnaNagar) in supplying lithologs; Bob King (UK ERTL) and Dr. Chris Eastoe (University of Arizona) with sample analyses; Dr. Helena Truszczynska (UK) for helping with statistical analyses; and Dr. Steve Fisher (Kentucky Geological Survey) and an anonymous reviewer for comments on the manuscript. The project was financially supported by the University of Kentucky (Department of Geological Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, and the Graduate School), the Kentucky NSF-EPSCoR program, and the Geological Society of America (Grant No. 7751-04). Last but not least, the authors are sincerely grateful to the inhabitants of West Bengal for the hospitality and cooperation provided during the fieldwork.

Funders	Funder number
University of Kentucky Department of Geological Sciences
Kentucky-NSF EPSCoR Program
Geological Society of America	7751-04
University of Kentucky
College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University

Keywords

Groundwater
India
Recharge
Stable isotopes
West Bengal

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Water Science and Technology

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10.1016/j.jhydrol.2006.10.004

Cite this

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title = "Regional-scale stable isotopic signatures of recharge and deep groundwater in the arsenic affected areas of West Bengal, India",

abstract = "Samples of deep groundwater, river water and rainwater were collected for δ18O and δ2H analyses from an area of ∼22,000 km2 in the arsenic-affected districts of West Bengal, India, in order to examine groundwater recharge. A plot of δ18O versus δ2H of groundwater falls subparallel to the constructed local meteoric water line (δ2H = 7.2 δ18O + 7.7), suggesting a predominance of meteoric recharge with some evaporation. The stable isotopic signature of groundwater from the deeper part of the semiconfined main aquifer is similar to that of shallower groundwater, which suggests that deeper groundwater has been recharged in the present-day climatic regime, mostly from monsoonal rainfall. Groundwater in deeper isolated aquifers falls within the isotopic range observed for the main aquifer. A trend of isotopic depletion of groundwater that extends northward and westward from the Bay of Bengal (the monsoonal moisture source area) indicates a rain-out process following Rayleigh-type distillation. Some recharge may have taken place from the rivers Ganges and Bhagirathi-Hoogly, with minimal inflow from other rivers (Jalangi and Ichamati).",

keywords = "Groundwater, India, Recharge, Stable isotopes, West Bengal",

author = "Abhijit Mukherjee and Fryar, {Alan E.} and Rowe, {Harold D.}",

note = "Funding Information: This project could not have been executed without the cooperation of the Public Health Engineering Directorate, Government of West Bengal. However, the ideas presented in this paper are those of the authors and have not been officially endorsed by the Government of West Bengal or any other person or organization. Special thanks to P.K. De, A. Banerjee, A. Bhattacharya, and G. RoyChowdhury (PHED) for helping with selection of sampling sites. The authors gratefully acknowledge the immense assistance provided by T. Datta and B. Hazra (PHED), Barindra Lal Mukherjee and Murali Singh (Calcutta), Sudipta Rakshit (Plant and Soil Science, University of Kentucky), and Basanamoy Moitra (Shantipur) in sample collection; B.M. Engineering (KrishnaNagar) in supplying lithologs; Bob King (UK ERTL) and Dr. Chris Eastoe (University of Arizona) with sample analyses; Dr. Helena Truszczynska (UK) for helping with statistical analyses; and Dr. Steve Fisher (Kentucky Geological Survey) and an anonymous reviewer for comments on the manuscript. The project was financially supported by the University of Kentucky (Department of Geological Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, and the Graduate School), the Kentucky NSF-EPSCoR program, and the Geological Society of America (Grant No. 7751-04). Last but not least, the authors are sincerely grateful to the inhabitants of West Bengal for the hospitality and cooperation provided during the fieldwork.",

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AU - Fryar, Alan E.

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N1 - Funding Information: This project could not have been executed without the cooperation of the Public Health Engineering Directorate, Government of West Bengal. However, the ideas presented in this paper are those of the authors and have not been officially endorsed by the Government of West Bengal or any other person or organization. Special thanks to P.K. De, A. Banerjee, A. Bhattacharya, and G. RoyChowdhury (PHED) for helping with selection of sampling sites. The authors gratefully acknowledge the immense assistance provided by T. Datta and B. Hazra (PHED), Barindra Lal Mukherjee and Murali Singh (Calcutta), Sudipta Rakshit (Plant and Soil Science, University of Kentucky), and Basanamoy Moitra (Shantipur) in sample collection; B.M. Engineering (KrishnaNagar) in supplying lithologs; Bob King (UK ERTL) and Dr. Chris Eastoe (University of Arizona) with sample analyses; Dr. Helena Truszczynska (UK) for helping with statistical analyses; and Dr. Steve Fisher (Kentucky Geological Survey) and an anonymous reviewer for comments on the manuscript. The project was financially supported by the University of Kentucky (Department of Geological Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, and the Graduate School), the Kentucky NSF-EPSCoR program, and the Geological Society of America (Grant No. 7751-04). Last but not least, the authors are sincerely grateful to the inhabitants of West Bengal for the hospitality and cooperation provided during the fieldwork.

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N2 - Samples of deep groundwater, river water and rainwater were collected for δ18O and δ2H analyses from an area of ∼22,000 km2 in the arsenic-affected districts of West Bengal, India, in order to examine groundwater recharge. A plot of δ18O versus δ2H of groundwater falls subparallel to the constructed local meteoric water line (δ2H = 7.2 δ18O + 7.7), suggesting a predominance of meteoric recharge with some evaporation. The stable isotopic signature of groundwater from the deeper part of the semiconfined main aquifer is similar to that of shallower groundwater, which suggests that deeper groundwater has been recharged in the present-day climatic regime, mostly from monsoonal rainfall. Groundwater in deeper isolated aquifers falls within the isotopic range observed for the main aquifer. A trend of isotopic depletion of groundwater that extends northward and westward from the Bay of Bengal (the monsoonal moisture source area) indicates a rain-out process following Rayleigh-type distillation. Some recharge may have taken place from the rivers Ganges and Bhagirathi-Hoogly, with minimal inflow from other rivers (Jalangi and Ichamati).

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Regional-scale stable isotopic signatures of recharge and deep groundwater in the arsenic affected areas of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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