Transportation of Suspended Sediment from Meltwater of the Patsio Glacier, Western Himalaya, India

Discharge and transportation of suspended sediment from the Patsio glacier have been studied for 2 years. During the study period 2011 and 2012, daily mean discharge was measured to be 0.70 and 0.94 m 3 /s, respectively. Daily mean suspended sediment concentra- tion during the study period 2011 and 2012 was found to be 28.1 and 48.8 mg l -1 , respectively. Whereas, daily mean suspended sediment load during the study period was estimated to be 1.70 and 3.96 t day -1 . Suspended sediment concentrations generally follow the discharge pattern of the glacier for both years. High average TDS/TSM ratio of the Patsio glacier meltwater for both years shows the domi- nancy of chemical weathering over the physical weath- ering. The physical weathering rate of the study area during year 2011 and 2012 was estimated to be 79.3 and 185 t km -2 year -1 , respectively. The chemical (cation) weathering rate of the Patsio glacier is much higher than other Himalayan glaciers, which may be due to high intensity of chemical weathering in this glacier.