SOLUTE VARIATION IN SOME MINOR WATER SHEDS, KERALA, INDIA Thrivikramaji.K.P & Sabu Joseph Dept.

of Geology & Dept. of Environmental Science, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus 695 581 Abstract

Results of a study of solute (DL) and suspended load (SL) discharge and their characteristics and transformations due to anthropogenic actions, in some of the minor (area = <2000 Km2) and adjacent rivers in southern Kerala like Vamanapuram ar., Ithykara ar., Kallada ar. and Achankovil ar. are examined here. The load characteristics amply demonstrate consequences of a very high degree of human action these river basins and processes have been subjected to. Phenomenal changes have occurred in respect of landcover-landuse parameters due to conversion of large chunks of land into plantation (monoculture) and agricultural lands, which warrant application of chemical fertilizers, soil conditioners, fungicides and / or insecticides. Addition of organic and inorganic chemicals into the physical system resulted in considerable modification of characteristics as well as levels of DL. Estimates of sediment yield, in these minor basins, varies from 72 to 227 Ton Km-2 Yr-1.

Introduction Data on sediment load propelled by streams are quite important in the management of river basins (RB), the coastal zone and also the nutrient and pollutant flux to the adjacent oceanic sink. The sheer size of large RBs have attracted attention of denudation researcher, in that estimates of rate and through put of sediment load have to be determined in order to picture the rate of denudation of the hinterland. Later, interest in load flux studies acquired a new dimension with regard to role of human actions in the modification of sediment load. In the context of global change, modification of nutrient supply to the major world oceans became yet another focal theme of study. Hence, large rivers and river basins automatically became the choicest study areas for the geochemists. Role of minor rivers (with stream net in rural and/or rurban settings, monsoon climate with distinct seasonality and intensely farmed catchment attracting large inputs of chemical fertilizers, soil amendments and pesticides) in transport of load have rarely been brought to light (Douglas, 1967). The rivers of Kerala (with the exception of Thrivikramaji, 1989; Jose, 1990) are a case in point. Nevertheless, these rivers are good candidates to model the role of minor rivers in respect of the solute flux vis-a-vis its anthropogenic modifications.

Physical and Geological Backdrop The state of Kerala (area = 38,590 Km2; N.Lat.8o1730 and 12o4740; and E.Long. 74o5157 and 77o2447), located in the SW edge of the Indian craton, has a. shoreline length of about 560 Km. and an axial length of 546 Km. Along the widest transect, width is measured at 124 Km. and 11 Km. at the narrowest (av.=124 Km.). The highland (>75.0 m.), midland (7.5-75.0 m.) and coastal land (<7.5 m.) are the three physiographic divisions. This land area enjoys a tropical monsoon climate with very heavy rainfall out of the SW & NE monsoons with a marked seasonality (Gupta, 1984). Due to high gradient or steepness of the terrain and narrow width many of the rivers have only a relatively short runs before emptying into Laccadive sea many a times through the Kayals ( a.k.a. backwaters). Raos (1975) classification of Indian rivers, based on area of catchment renders 3 categories viz., major (>20000 Km2), medium (2000-20000 Km2) and minor (<2000 Km2) rivers. And among the 44 rivers of Kerala (41 west flowing and 3 east flowing) only 5 belong to medium and the rest to the minor categories. This report addresses, solute load (DL) and suspended load (SL) transported by some minor (but adjacent) rivers in southern Kerala viz., Vamanapuram ar. Ithykara ar., Kallada ar. and Achankovil ar. In these basins the bedrock cover is mostly rendered by the Precambrian crystalline rocks like Garnetiferous biotite gneiss, Khondalite and Charnockite (in highland) or their altered equivalents designated as laterite (in most of the midland) and a small fringe of Tertiary sedimentary rocks along the coastal land (Soman, 1984). The regional structural grain of the Precambrian rocks is characteristically in NW-SE and NNW-SSE directions. Varadarajan and Nair (1978) demonstrated that the lineaments discerned from the satellite imageries amply underscore the disposition of the above structural make up. Stream course/net geometry in the highland and to a considerable degree in the midland tract, amply reflects the hold of regional structure. A summary of the basin specific vital information on these rivers is given in Table 1. It is proposed that knowledge on the load flux in these smaller basins are very significant as these happen to have a) setting in tropical monsoon climate, b) short river run and steeper channel slope and c) basins of relatively high population density and consequent intense pressure on land for varied uses like organized farming, habitation, recreation, infra-structural amenities (like schools, hospitals, roads, airports etc.), natural resource sourcing, industrial development and finally waste disposal. To make matters worse, in such basins there may also exist, largescale abstraction of water for industrial, hydroelectric, irrigation and domestic needs. This can greatly modify the nature and duration of the through flow in the system resulting in amended load fluxes.

Previous work. Studies on river load had been keenly pursued by engineers, soil scientists and process geo-morphologists (Chorley et. al., 1984; Gibbs, 1967; Livingstone, 1963 and Subramonian, 1979; Vanoni, 1975) Until recently, in Kerala the river geochemistry remained a least traveled domain by geologists as well as geochemists. But now, several agencies of the state like the GWD, Pollution Control Board and the Kerala Water Authority have been monitoring the water quality aspects, including the chemistry of solutes in water. In addition, Central Water Commission and CGWB also should be analyzing water samples to characterize and monitor the water quality. Though data sets of this nature are not uncommon, the application of such data by geochemists in discussing the rate of denudation, relation between climate and weathering, or the extent of influence of human activity on load flux remains relatively un-attempted (Thrivikramaji, 1989 and Jose, 1990). Definition of sediment load All load that is under transport in a stream can be classified as total load without any great deal of confusion and it is then subdivided into chemical or dissolved load (DL), suspended load (SL) and bed-load. Meade (1987) proposed the following definition to identify various types of river load. i). Sediment concentration: It is the mass of sediment suspended in a unit volume of river water usually expressed grams or milligrams per liter. ii). Sediment discharge is the mass of sediment transported by a river past a given point for a given cross section in a unit time usually expressed as Kg./sec, ton/day or ton/year. iii) Sediment yield is the mass of sediment transported by a river in a unit time divided by the drainage area upriver of the measuring point and is expressed as ton Km-2 Yr-1. Menard (1961) observed that the accuracy of suspended load measurement of many of to days rivers lies with in the + or 10% and he further proposed that the bed-load content of many rivers is within the range of error of measurement of suspended load. Further, suspended load (size = >0.45 micron and in suspension) travels at the same velocity of the dissolved load. Sample collection & analysis In all the four rivers, water samples were collected from at least 3 sites each covering the high-, mid- and coastal-land segments of the basin (of which one at the CWC gauging station). Table 1 is a list of the gauging sites. The discharge data sourced from the CWC made use of in the study relates to such CWC gauged sites.

Sampling period was spread over 1985 (in Sept., Oct. & Dec.) and 1986 (in Feb., Jul., Oct., & Nov.) water year. A modified version of an USGS Water Resources Divisions (Hem, 1970) sampling and analytical procedures has been made use of in this study. pH, conductivity and temperature are measured right at the collection site. A Sartorius vacuum filtering unit and filter paper (dia. = 0,45 micron) was made use of in separation SL and was weighed in a Sartorius analytical balance. For the estimation of DL, USGS standard procedures have been made use of. . As routine microscopic examination is not feasible in respect of identification of minerals in SL, XRDA has been used in the identification. A portion of the Sartorius filter paper with trapped SL was glued to a glass strip and mounted in the sample holder for scanning through 4 through 65 deg. 2theta. Nature of chemical load In general the chemical load content of any river basin is composed of contributions from meteoric or atmospheric and terrestrial sources. These days of extreme human interventions into the natural or physical system of river basins (especially in Kerala), in addition to the former, anthropogenic contribution (in solid, liquid and gaseous states) needs to be reckoned with. It is especially true in respect of minor rivers, where the share of the latter may be highly influential in modifying the ultimate nature of the load. The ionic concentration (Table 2) and DL and SL data (Table 3) pertaining to the samples collected from the gauging sites are made use of in the estimation of sediment yield in the various basins. Table 4 lists the DL to SL ratios. Table 5 is a comparison of DL values of Indian river, World river and the minor rivers of Kerala. In Table 2, is a list of mean ionic concentration ( of 7 sampling missions per site and 4 river basins, i.e., col.1 to 4) of water samples collected at Ayilam (Vamanapuram ar.), Ayur (Ithykara ar.), Pattazhi (Kallada ar.) and Thumbamon (Achankovil ar). alongwith average DL for these minor rivers, in ppm (col-6) and the percentage content (col-7) of the former. The combined dissolved and suspended load estimate for these basins are like below (see Table 3). The Vamanapuram ar. The Ithykara ar. (length=56 Km.; area=642 Km2 and slope = 4.3 m/Km), the smallest among the minor rivers registered an annual average load (DL+SL) of 0.1675 g/lit, where as the largest among the minor rivers, viz., Kallada ar. (length=121 Km.; Area=1699 Km2 and slope=10 m/Km), registered the second largest content of 0.1383 gm/lit. Though the Achankovil ar. (length = 128 Km; area = 1484 Km2 and slope = 3.4 m/Km) is relatively large in respect of the physical system parameters, showed only a 0.0969 gm/lit load. The Vamanapuram ar (length = 88 Km.; area = 687 Km 2 and slope = 21 m/Km) stands just behind the Achankovil in respect of the load content viz., 0.0801 gm/lit.

Yet another interesting aspect of chemistry of the DL (Table 5 col.-8) is in the combined content of Ca+Mg+Na ions (38.05%) on the one hand and those of bicarbonate + sulphate + chloride (53.73 %) on the other accounting for over 90% of solute load. Just under 10% of the load is shared by Potassium, silica, Iron and nitrate. However, the average DL content of these rivers is relatively much lower than that of other Indian rivers (Subramonian, 1979). Why this anomaly? These basins in comparison with others (World river or av. Indian river) are special in many respects. Though exact area under forest cover in these basins is not readily available, what is available is the extent of forest cover in Kerala which is estimated at 28% of the total land area (i.e., 38590 Km2). The land use and land cover changes, which accelerated considerably in the post-independence period should have amply contributed to the nature of the dissolved load. Secondly the river basins are intensely and actively farmed for cash crops like rubber, Oil palm, cashew etc. and seasonals. The agronomic practice in these farms calls for application of natural (Mussurie Phos and Dolomite) and chemical fertilizers (various generic NPK, Urea, Ammonium Sulphate, Diammonium Phosphate) and soil conditioners (common salt), pesticides (Sulphur) as well as such other materials. For example, in the Kallada ar. basin huge plantations of rubber and Oil palm are run by a state owned corporation. Though calc-gneiss and granulites of mappable extent are not reported from any of these basins, the higher content of Ca and Mg in the water samples should be accounted form the anthropogenic sources cited above. Common salt used as a soil conditioner will easily account for the higher than average Na and chloride ions in the water. Seasonal variation General experience of hydro-chemist is that during the base flow season (i.e., summer season), the solute content should be on the rise, when discharge is low and it is contributed mainly by the water stored in the aquifer. The CWC gauges and discharge data agrees with the former. The ratio of dissolved load to suspended load data on these rivers are given in Table 4. Generally all the rivers invariably are rich in DL irrespective of the season of sampling. The SL (Table 3) on the other hand is more or less sensitive to variations in water discharge During the SW monsoon, the Vamanapuram ar, and Ithykara ar., do show very high D/S ratios viz., 20 and 28 respectively, which is at least an order of magnitude larger than that of the Kallada ar.(3.8) and Achankovil ar. (3.5).

Variability of suspended load SL in minor rivers generally registers relatively higher values due to the lack of opportunities for storage in floodplains, steeper valley gradients and slopes and smaller basin areas. The latter in the study area (well over 2/3 of the area) is under a mix of man-made plantation type vegetation and seasonal vegetation (Gupta, 1984). But in respect of major and large rivers the channel and the flood plain are temporary warehouses of sediment load (Meade, 1984). The content of suspended load (SL) in rivers are directly related the type and nature of land use-land cover, extent and thickness of soil cover, agricultural practices and degree and distribution of surface slope or gradient in the basin. SL values (Table 3) change from season to season also. For example, in the monsoon season it registers peak values due to increased discharge where as in the summer base-flow stage, largely influenced by release of GW from aquifers, the former shows very low values. Table 4 shows estimates of DL to SL ratios for the various gauging points. Low values can result from similar DL and SL content in the samples, and high values result either from an increase in DL due to anthropogenic contributions without any increase or rather a fall in SL. Generally, wet seasons characteristically go along with an increase in the SL content. The large outliers in Table 4, corresponding to monsoon data for Vamanapuram ar. and Ithykara ar. call for an explanation. It is suggested that the very low SL content, driving the ratio upward, may have resulted from the comparable nature of land-use in the two basins, the variability in precipitation and anthropogenic contributions to DL, - a fall out from crop dusting and chemical fertilizer applications. In addition to the above, one other factor that could have contributed to the high ratio of 18.0 for summer in Ithykara ar., is perhaps the very physical setting of the gauging point immediately upstream of a road bridge (giving a pool effect), where the river runs over a bedrock-floored channel. Such and other factors like relatively very low channel gradient inflated the ratio for Achankovil ar., (Table 1 ). The suspended load is characteristically composed of minerals like Kaolinite and Quartz (in the order of abundance), which is normal in a load derived from a terrain undergoing tropical weathering. Based on the load data (SL+DL) the basin specific annual sediment yield has been estimated (Table 5), which varies between 72 and 227 Tons Km-2Yr-1. These rates are obviously very high in comparison with other river basins of India. Yet, it has to be borne in mind that smaller basin areas and the higher degree of human contributions to the DL in the rivers of Kerala are perhaps non-existent in the other Indian rivers. In one of the medium basins i.e., Periyar (area = 5398 Km2) in Kerala, Jose (1990) estimated the annual sediment yield at 133 Tons/Km2/Yr. The

cardinal determinants of the basin like physiography, climate, geology and degree of human action are very much similar in the southern-minor-basins under scrutiny here. Other things being equal, experience has been that sediment yield is inversely proportional to basin area. Summary The data on DS and DL estimated from several water samples spanning over a period of one year, collected from a set of 4 four minor (basin area= < 2000 Km2) adjacent rivers, do reflect many commonalities due to very similar physical, climatic, geological and anthropogenic factors. Another criterion for the selection of this set of rivers, is the location of a CWC gauging station each at Ayilam (Vamanapuram ar.), Ayur ithykara ar.), Pattazhi (Kallada ar.) and Thumbamon (Achankovil ar.). All the rivers do show a dominance of DL rather than SL reflecting the anthropogenic contributions and modifications of the former. The transformation of land cover/land use (plantation crops, and seasonal crops) and decline of the forest cover (28%) in the basins also contributed to the higher dissolved loads relative to suspended load and especially in the summer season. Consequently, estimates of sediment yield based in the present data is bound to be on the higher side as it has not been possible to provide a weightage for the human factor in the estimates. It has been possible to establish that humans play a significant role in the modification of sediment load (here increase in the DL content) Estimated sediment yield in these basins vary between 72 to 227 Tons /Km2/ Yr, and seems to be comparable to the load flux of 133 Tons/Km2/Yr. in Periyar

Acknowledgements I thank the Govt. of Kerala (funding), Dept. of Geology, University of Kerala (appropriate ambience and support), Dr.G.Prema (supervision of ionic content data creation). Mr. E. J. Koshy, my one time student (assistance in the field), the Chief Engineer, CWC, Southern Region, Hyderabad (discharge data), Peoples Friendship University, Moscow (XRDA work) and Prof. V.Subramonian, JNU, New Delhi (knowledge sharing). ********

References Anonymous,1974, Water resources of Kerala, 110p. Carrol, D, 1970, Clay Minerals- a Guide to their identification: The Geological Society of America, Special Paper, 126, 80p. Douglas, I., 1967, Man, vegetation and sediment yiled of rivers: Nature, 215, 925928. Gibbs,RJ, 1967, The Geochemistry of Amazon river system: Pt.I: Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 78, 1203-32 Gupta, HK, 1984, Resource Atlas of Kerala, CESS, Trivandrum (132 maps & 39 pages of text) Jose, PG, 1990, Nature of solute and sediment load in the periyar river and idukki Catchment: M.Phil dissertation submitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 88p. Livingstone, D, 1963, Chemical composition of lakes and rivers of the world: USGS Prof. paper, 440G, 64p. Meade, RH,1987, Movement and storage of sediment in river systems: in Lerman, A, and Maybeck, M, (ed.), Physical and chemical weathering in geochemical cycles, Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht, Netherlands. Menard, HW, 1961, Some rates of regional erosion: Jour. Geology, 69, 154-161 Rao, KL, 1975, Indias Water Wealth: Orient Longman, Delhi, 255p. Soman, K, 1980, Geology of Kerala, Prof. paper, CESS, Trivandrum, 61p. Subramonian, V, 1979, Chemical and suspended sediment characteristics of rivers of India: Jour. Hydrology, 44, 37-55. Thrivikramaji.K.P., 1989, River Geochemistry: Final Report, Dept. of Science, Technology and Environment, Govt. of Kerala, Trivandrum, 56p. Vanoni,. VA, 1975, Sedimentation engineering: ASCE Manual and Reports on Engineering Practice No. 54, 743p. Varadarajan, K and Nair,KM, 1978, Stratigraphy and structure of Kerala Tertiary basin: Jour. Geol. Soc. Ind., 19, 217-220.

Table 1 Physical systems of the river basins, vital aspects (HL-High land; ML-Midland and CL-Coastal land) Discharge data from CWC for 1985 water year
River Length, Km 88 56 121 Area, Km2 687 642 1699 Elevation, @ origin 1860 m. Cheminji mottai 240 m. Madathura kunnu 1524,Karimalai 1372, Sirikala 1067,Sankalipala m 160 700 m. Pasukita mettu Ramakkal Teri & Rishi Malai Gauge site Discharge, M3, x109 Ayilam 0.370 Ayoor 0.051 Pattazhi 1.439 Slope, m/Km 21 4.3 12.3 11.1 8.6 av=10. 6 1.25 5.5 av=3.4 Length, Km HL ML CL 44, 44, 0 34, 15, 7 75, 25, 18

Vamanapuram Ar. Ithykara Ar. Kallada Ar.

Achankovil Ar.

128

1484

Thumbamon 1.024

67, 24, 37

Total Forested Area

396

4512 1263

Table 2 Average ionic content (ppm) of water samples, at gauging stations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Ca++ Mg++ Na+ K+ HCO3SO4-CLSIO2 Fe++ NO3 TOT 6.57 2.02 8.42 1.85 14.88 6.93 18.8 3.55 1.9 0.45 65.37 2 34.17 27.01 14.18 2.28 16.77 12.73 22.48 2.61 4.28 0.95 137.46 3 21.28 9.94 11.57 3.33 17.39 11.55 33.55 2.78 2.13 0.66 114.18 4 7.85 2.15 7.2 1.14 16.35 15.96 26.6 1.82 1.48 0.71 81.26 5 69.87 41.12 41.37 8.6 65.39 47.17 101.43 10.76 9.79 2.77 6 17.47 10.28 10.34 2.15 16.35 11.79 25.36 2.69 2.45 0.69 99.57 7 17.54 10.32 10.39 2.16 16.42 11.84 25.47 2.70 2.46 0.70

1. Ayilam-VA, 2. Ayur-IT, 3 Pattazhi-KA 4 Thumbamon-AK, 5 Sum, 6 Average and 7 av%

Table: 3 Variation of Load (DL,dissolved + SL, suspended) in Vamanapuram(VA), Ithykara (IT), Kallada (KA) and Achankovil (AK) rivers. (SL;gm/l; DL,mg/l; andTL, gm/l)
Sample SL-VA DL-VA TL-VA SL-IT DL-IT TL-IT SL-KA DL-KA TL-KA SL-AK DL-AK TL-AK Sep.85 .008748 57.7 0.06644 0.01373 89.6 0.1033 .006348 93.8 .100148 .007285 89.3 0.09658 Oct.85 0.08155 86.3 0.16785 0.1694 96.8 0.2662 0.1126 92.3 0.2049 0.08262 88.2 0.1708 Dec.85 0.01574 40.3 0.05604 0.00374 69.7 0.07344 .00863 32.51 0.04114 0.00485 82.99 0.0878 Feb.86 0.00853 63.61 0.07214 0.00439 74.6 0.07899 0.002646 350.15 0.3601 0.00261 68.5 0.0711 Jul 86 0.00414 84.58 0.08872 0.01534 435.24 0.45048 0.023 88.57 0.11157 0.01534 54.22 0.0695 Oct.86 0.02098 61.7 0.08268 0.03422 89.29 0.1235 0.0215. 57.35 0.0785 0.0211 53.21 0.0743 Nov.86 0.03217 48.01 0.08018 0.01598 61.24 0.07722 0.01709. 61.25 0.0783 0.0246 83.74 0.1083 Average 0.0246 63.2 0.0877 0.0367 130.8 0.1675 0.0274 110.9 0.1383 0.0226 74.3 0.0969

Table 4 Ratio of dissolved load to suspended load, minor river basins, Kerala. Basin Vamanapuram ar Ithykara ar Kallada ar Achankovil ar. Sept.-Oct.,85 NE Monsoon 1.6 1.01 1.56 1.97 Dec.85-Feb.86 Summer 4.6 18.0 3.4 20.5 Jul.86,SW Oct.-Nov.86 Monsoon NE monsoon 20 2.0 28.0 3.8 3. 2.9 3.1 3.

Table: 5 Average ionic content (in ppm) of Indian and world river water, and of some small water sheds in Kerala 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ca+2 23.08 15.0 6.57 34.17 21.2 7.05 17.4 Mg+2 --2.02 27.01 9.94 2.15 10.28 Na+ 3.73 6.3 8.42 14.18 11.57 7.2 10.34 + K 2.32 2.3 1.85 2.2 3.33 1.14 2.15 HCO3- 90.77 58.4 14.88 16.77 17.39 16.35 16.34 SO4-2 11.38 11.2 6.93 12.73 11.55 15.96 11.79 Cl6.28 7.8 18.8 22.4 33.55 26.6 25.35 SiO2 14.73 13.1 3.55 2.61 2.78 1.82 2.69 +2 Fe 1.9 4.2 2.13 1.48 2.44 NO-3 0.45 0.95 0.66 0.71 0.69 Total 159.0 120.0 65.37 137.46 114.18 81.26 99.53 TDL 1.Type of ion; 2. Indian River (Subramonian, 1979); 3. World river; 4. Ayilam in Vamanapuram ar; 5. Ayur in Ithykara ar.; 6. Pattazhi in Kallada ar.; 7. Thumbamon in Anchankovil and 8 Average for the minor rivers.