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The contamination of inorganic elements in soil is a serious environmental problem,. The aim of the present study is to investigate concentrations of 19 elements in order to access the extent of their contaminations in the surface soil of hydroelectric catchments, Uttarakhand, India. For analysis, 168 soil samples were divided into eight groups according to altitudes. In soil samples, the concentration levels of Cr and Cu were found more than their background and threshold limit. Moreover, the evaluation of geochemical index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), and contamination factor (CF) suggests that soil samples were reasonably contaminated and highly enriched in Rb. The pollution load index (PLI) and degree of contamination (Cd) revealed that the presence of contaminations (PLI: 1.44; Cd: 44.94) in the study site might be a possible health risk for local residents. However, the calculation pollution ecological risk index (PERI) suggests low ecological risk (PERI: 77.61) of these elements. The clustering of sampling groups contained two clusters: the first cluster comprised F1 and F4 while the second cluster consists of the rest of the sampling group. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that the variation in concentrations of the elements might be a result of agricultural activities and pedological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest active terrestrial carbon reservoir, which behaves both as a sink and source for atmospheric carbon. The same is maximum in the forest soil ofAbies pindrow(128 t ha−1) and minimum inPinus roxburghii(69 t ha−1). The mitigation potential is also found to be maximum in Alpine forest soil (i.e., 1.84) inAbies pindrowand minimum in the chir (i.e., 1.00) inP. Roxburghii. This indicates that alpine forest soil can hold nearly two times more SOC than chir and hence it behaves as a CO2sink. The overall average content of SOC and carbon dioxide equivalent under all land use was estimated at 91.29 t ha−1and 334.11 t ha−1, respectively. The objective of this study is to estimate the spatial variability of SOC stocks in the catchment of both the Tehri and Koteshwar hydroelectric reservoir using field investigations, laboratory measurements, and geostatistical methods. The study provides an estimation for the amount of carbon reaching to the reservoir through various sources, where it undergoes aerobic and anaerobic degradation, thereby releasing green house gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere. The information provided in this article will be useful for policy-makers and environmentalists for undertaking appropriate conservation plans to mitigate GHGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]