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A study on mountain front recharge by using integrated techniques in the hard rock aquifers of southern India

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Abstract

Mountain front recharge (MFR) is the contribution of mountains to recharge the aquifers in the adjacent basins. The estimation of MFR is essential to obtain a detailed investigation of recharge of the groundwater at the mountain front. This study summarises the current understanding of recharge processes by comparing daily groundwater fluctuation to daily rainfall and identifies the recharge rates. The recharge rates vary with time due to difference in water table depth and travel time. Thus to understand the MFR along the foothills of Courtallam, a total of 14 surface water, rainwater and groundwater samples were collected and measured for stable isotopes. The isotopic data were used to investigate the recharge process and to identify the elevations to recharge. The study findings also suggest that predominantly rainfall along the foothills contributes recharge to the riparian zone (basin block region), whereas foothill regions receive recharge from rainfall over mountain block.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), New Delhi (No: SB/S4/ES-699/2013), for providing necessary financial support to carry out this study, and the author Banajarani Panda wishes to express her sincere thanks to Department of Science and Technology for providing the Inspire fellowship (No: DST/INSPIRE Fellowship/[IF150615], 27 October 2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Tamilnadu, 608002, India

    Banajarani Panda, S. Chidambaram, N. Ganesh, V. S. Adithya, K. Pradeep, U. Vasudevan, Shyam Ranjan & K. Paramaguru

  2. School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, India

    A. L. Ramanathan

  3. Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia, CDT 250, 98009, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia

    M. V. Prasanna

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  1. Banajarani Panda
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  2. S. Chidambaram
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  4. V. S. Adithya
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  5. K. Pradeep
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  9. M. V. Prasanna
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  10. K. Paramaguru
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Correspondence to M. V. Prasanna.

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Panda, B., Chidambaram, S., Ganesh, N. et al. A study on mountain front recharge by using integrated techniques in the hard rock aquifers of southern India. Environ Dev Sustain 20, 2243–2259 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-9987-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-9987-8

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