Influence of Landcover and Geology on Spring Dynamics and Evaporation in Micro-Watersheds of Uttarakhand Himalayan Mountains dataset
  • Description

    The landuse landcover (LULC) patterns have potential control on recharge and discharge processes, dictating the hydrological behaviour, which is essential for informed decision-making in sustainable groundwater management at micro-watershed levels. The stable isotopes (oxygen and hydrogen) can characterise various components of the hydrological cycle, including gaining insights into the recharge and discharge dynamics of the mountainous springs. We collected high-frequency meteorological and hydrological (stream and springs) data and analysed their stable isotopic imprints in a 32 km2 micro watershed of a Himalayan region. Further, we examined the effect of LULC, geology and topography on recharge and discharge dynamics of the springs. The altitude effect in rainfall isotopic signatures was estimated to demarcate the potential spring recharge zones at the springshed level. The current observations were consistent with the global altitude effect, showing a decrease of -0.26 ‰ per 100 meters of elevation gain. Moreover, the precipitation isotopes and spring water flux changes were determined by the Craig-Gordon model. The study found that springs in barren land areas experience higher evaporation, while those in agricultural lands show lower evaporation. Differences in stable isotope values in spring water highlight their usefulness in tracking how land use and environmental changes affect water movement in small watersheds. By combining information on topography, geology, weather, water flow, and isotopes, the study helps to better understand how sensitive spring recharge and discharge are to land use. This research improves our knowledge of spring water sustainability in mountain regions with bimodal precipitation sources. This data set contains all the raw data collected for this paper and presented in tabular format.


    • Data publication title Influence of Landcover and Geology on Spring Dynamics and Evaporation in Micro-Watersheds of Uttarakhand Himalayan Mountains dataset
    • Description

      The landuse landcover (LULC) patterns have potential control on recharge and discharge processes, dictating the hydrological behaviour, which is essential for informed decision-making in sustainable groundwater management at micro-watershed levels. The stable isotopes (oxygen and hydrogen) can characterise various components of the hydrological cycle, including gaining insights into the recharge and discharge dynamics of the mountainous springs. We collected high-frequency meteorological and hydrological (stream and springs) data and analysed their stable isotopic imprints in a 32 km2 micro watershed of a Himalayan region. Further, we examined the effect of LULC, geology and topography on recharge and discharge dynamics of the springs. The altitude effect in rainfall isotopic signatures was estimated to demarcate the potential spring recharge zones at the springshed level. The current observations were consistent with the global altitude effect, showing a decrease of -0.26 ‰ per 100 meters of elevation gain. Moreover, the precipitation isotopes and spring water flux changes were determined by the Craig-Gordon model. The study found that springs in barren land areas experience higher evaporation, while those in agricultural lands show lower evaporation. Differences in stable isotope values in spring water highlight their usefulness in tracking how land use and environmental changes affect water movement in small watersheds. By combining information on topography, geology, weather, water flow, and isotopes, the study helps to better understand how sensitive spring recharge and discharge are to land use. This research improves our knowledge of spring water sustainability in mountain regions with bimodal precipitation sources. This data set contains all the raw data collected for this paper and presented in tabular format.


    • Data type dataset
    • Keywords
      • Mountain hydrology
      • Spring micro watershed
      • Stable Isotope
      • Evaporative losses
      • Himalayan region
      • Landuse changes
    • Funding source
    • Grant number(s)
      • -
    • FoR codes
      SEO codes
      Temporal (time) coverage
    • Start date 2023/01/01
    • End date 2023/12/31
    • Time period
       
      Spatial (location,mapping) coverage
    • Locations
      • Khulgad, Uttarakhand, India.
      Data Locations

      Type Location Notes
      The Data Manager is: Dharma Hagare
      Access conditions Open
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        Name Influence of Landcover and Geology on Spring Dynamics and Evaporation in Micro-Watersheds of Uttarakhand Himalayan Mountains
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      Citation Pant, Neeraj; Hagare, Dharma; Maheshwari, Basant; Rai, Shive Prakash; Patel, Abhinav; Puthiyottil, Nijesh; Jain, Sharad Kumar; Sahu, Lakhi Narayan; Sen, Sumit; Upadhyay, Mayank (2025): Influence of Landcover and Geology on Spring Dynamics and Evaporation in Micro-Watersheds of Uttarakhand Himalayan Mountains dataset. Western Sydney University. https://doi.org/10.26183/s8ga-q341