Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Elevated Barium concentrations in rain water from east-coast of India: role of regional lithology

  • Published:
Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Alkaline earth metals act as dominating acid-neutralizing species in atmosphere and hence, regulate the rain water chemistry significantly. In this contribution, concentrations of these metals (Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba) and other major ions in rain water samples, collected during south-west monsoon of year 2017, from a coastal location (Berhampur) in eastern part of India have been analyzed to trace their provenances and controlling factors. The chemical compositions of rain water reveal oceanic and continental supply of Mg and Sr to the site, whereas Ca and Ba are pre-dominantly supplied through continental sources. The dominancy of continental fluxes at this coastal site is mainly due to particulate fluxes from regional lithologies and favorable wind pattern for long-range transport from south-western/western directions. An inverse model involving chemical mass balance between rain water composition and its possible sources have been adopted in this study to quantify the source(s) contributions. These model results show that the continental Mg is mainly derived from long-range transport of mafic minerals from Deccan Traps (40 ± 21%) with sub-ordinate contribution (15 ± 6%) from regional lithologies. On average, about 70% of rain water Ca at Berhampur is derived from carbonates, whereas most of the Ba (~95%) is supplied from regional silicates (charnockites and khondalites). Owing to faster dissolution kinetics of these silicates with higher Ba content, the silicates contribute most of the rain water Ba concentration over this region. The median Ba content (29 nM) at this location is systematically higher than available literature Ba data for rain water worldwide (1-22 nM). The observed higher concentrations of Ba, a micronutrient, in rain water emphasize important role of regional lithology in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients over the region via wet deposition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  • Berg, T., Royset, O., Steinnes, E.: Principal component analysis of data for trace elements and main components in precipitation falling on Norway. Environ. Monit. Assess. 31, 259–273 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • Berner, E.K., Berner, R.A.: Global Environment: Water, Air and Geochemical Cycles, 2nd edn. Princeton University Press, New Jersey (2012) 488 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhaskar, V.V., Rao, P.S.P.: Annual and decadal variation in chemical composition of rain water at all ten GAW stations in India. J. Atmos. Chem. 74, 23–53 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bisht, D.S., Tiwari, S., Srivastava, A.K., Singh, J.V., Singh, B.P., Srivastava, M.K.: High concentration of acidic species in rainwater at Varanasi in the indo-Gangetic plains, India. Nat. Hazards. 75, 2985–3003 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budhavant, K.B., Rao, P.S., Safai, P.D., Ali, S.K.: Influence of local sources on rainwater chemistry over Pune region, India. Atmos. Res. 100, 121–131 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakrapani, G.J., Subramanian, V.: Preliminary studies on the geochemistry of the Mahanadi river basin, India. Chem. Geol. 81, 241–253 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, J., Singh, S.K.: 87Sr/86Sr and major ion composition of rainwater of Ahemdabad, India: sources of base cations. Atmos. Environ. 63, 60–67 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cong, Z., Kang, S., Zhang, Y., Li, X.: Atmospheric wet deposition of trace elements to central Tibetan plateau. Appl. Geochem. 25, 1415–1421 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalai, T.K., Krishnaswami, S., Sarin, M.M.: Barium in the Yamuna river system in the Himalaya: sources, fluxes, and its behavior during weathering and transport. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 3, 1–23 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das, A., Krishnaswami, S.: Elemental geochemistry of river sediments from the Deccan traps, India: implications to sources of elements and their mobility during basalt-water interaction. Chem. Geol. 242, 232–254 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das, R., Das, S.N., Misra, V.N.: Chemical composition of rainwater and dustfall at Bhubaneswar in the east coast of India. Atmos. Environ. 39, 5908–5916 (2005a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das, A., Krishnaswami, S., Sarin, M.M., Pande, K.: Chemical weathering in the Krishna basin and Western Ghats of the Deccan traps, India: rates of basalt weathering and their controls. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 69, 2067–2084 (2005b)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das, N., Das, R., Chaudhury, G.R., Das, S.N.: Chemical composition of precipitation at background level. Atmos. Res. 95, 108–113 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dash, B., Sahu, K.N., Bowes, D.R.: Geochemistry and original nature of Precambrian khondalites in the eastern Ghats, Orissa, India. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sci. 78, 115–127 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drever, J.: Geochemistry of Natural Waters: Surface and Groundwater Environments, 3rd edn. Prentice hall, New Jersey (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  • Freydier, R., Dupre, B., Dandurand, J., Fortune, J., Sigha-Nkamdjou, L.: Trace elements and major species in precipitation at African stations: concentrations and sources. Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. 173, 129–146 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gadgil, S.: The Indian monsoon and its variability. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 31, 429–467 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galy, A., France-Lanord, C., Derry, L.A.: The strontium isotopic budget of Himalayan rivers in Nepal and Bangladesh. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 63, 1905–1925 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacob, D.J.: Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry. Princeton university Press, New Jersy (1999) 280 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Jain, M., Kulshrestha, U.C., Sarkar, A.K., Parashar, D.C.: Influence of crustal aerosols on wet deposition at urban and rural sites in India. Atmos. Environ. 34, 5129–5137 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jickells, T., Chruch, T., Scudlark, J., Dehairs, F.: Barium in North Atlantic rain water: a reconnaissance. Atmos. Environ. 26, 2641–2646 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulshrestha, U.C., Granat, L., Engardt, M., Rodhe, H.: Review of precipitation monitoring studies in India – a search for regional patterns. Atmos. Environ. 39, 7403–7419 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lara, L., Artaxo, P., Martinelli, L., Victoria, R., Camargo, P., Krusche, A., Ayers, G., Ferraz, E., Ballester, M.: Chemical composition of rainwater and anthropogenic influences in the Piracicaba river basin, Southeast Brazil. Atmos. Environ. 35, 4937–4945 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Likens, G.E., Bormann, F.H.: Acid rain: a serious regional enviormental problem. Science. 184, 1176–1179 (1974)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millot, R., Gaillardet, J., Dupre, B., Allegre, C.J.: Northern latitude chemical weathering rates: clues from the Mackenzie river basin, Canada. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 67, 1305–1329 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Negrel, P., Roy, S.: Chemistry of rainwater in the massif central (France): a strontium isotope and major element study. Appl. Geochem. 13, 941–952 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norman, M., Das, S.N., Pillai, A., Granat, L., Rodhe, H.: Influence of air mass trajectories on the chemical composition of precipitation in India. Atmos. Environ. 35, 4223–4235 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özsoy, T., Örnektekin, S.: Trace elements in urban and suburban rainfall, Mersin, northeastern Mediterranean. Atmos. Res. 94, 203–219 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascaud, A., Sauvage, S., Coddeville, P., Nicolas, M., Croise, L., Mezdour, A., Probst, A.: Contrasted spatial and long-term trends in precipitation chemistry and deposition fluxes at rural stations in France. Atmos. Environ. 146, 28–43 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajeev, P., Rajput, P., Gupta, T.: Chemical characteristics of aerosol and rain water during an El Nino and PDO influenced Indian summer monsoon. Atmos. Environ. 145, 192–200 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramakrishnan, M., Vaidyanadhan, R. Geology of India, volume 1, Geological Society of India, 556 pp. (2010)

  • Rao, M., Rao, V.D.: Chemical constraints on the origin of the charnockites in the Eastern Ghat Mobile belt, India. Chem. Geol. 69, 37–48 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rao, P.S.P., Tiwari, S., Matwale, J.L., Pervez, S., Tunved, P., Safai, P.D., Srivastava, A.K., Bisht, D.S., Singh, S., Hopke, P.K.: Sources of chemical species in rainwater during monsoon and non-monsoonal periods over two megacities in India and dominant source region of secondary aerosols. Atmos. Environ. 146, 90–99 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rastogi, N., Sarin, M.M.: Chemical characteristics of individual rain events from a semi-arid region in India: three-year study. Atmos. Environ. 39, 3313–3323 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhode, H., Dentener, F., Schulz, M.: The global distribution of acidifying wet deposition. Environ. Sci. Technol. 36, 4382–4388 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, A., Chatterjee, A., Tiwari, S., Sarkar, C., Das, S.K., Ghosh, S.K., Raha, S.: Precipitation chemistry over urban, rural and high altitude Himalayan stations in eastern India. Atmos. Res. 181, 44–53 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy-Barman, M., Jeandel, C.: Marine Geochemistry: Ocean Circulation, Carbon Cycle and Climate Change. Oxford University Press, UK (2016) 398 pp

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Safai, P.D., Rao, P., Momin, G.A., Chate, D., Praveen, P.S.: Chemical composition of precipitation during 1984-2002 at Pune, India. Atmos. Environ. 38, 1705–1714 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarin, M.M., Kumar, A., Srinivas, B., Sudheer, A.K., Rastogi, N.: Anthropogenic sulphate aerosols and large cl-deficit in marine atmospheric boundary layer of tropical bay of Bengal. J. Atmos. Chem. 66, 1–10 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sequeira, R., Kelkar, D.: Geochemical implications of summer monsoonal rainwater composition over India. J. Appl. Meteorol. 17, 1390–1396 (1978)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, S.P., Singh, S.K., Bhushan, R.: Internal cycling of dissolved barium in water column of the bay of Bengal. Mar. Chem. 154, 12–23 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subbarao, K., Hooper, P.: Reconnaissance map of Deccan basalt Group in the Western ghats, India. In: (Ed. K V Subbarao) Deccan Flood Basalts pp. 69–90. Geological Society of India, (1988)

  • Tiwari, S., Kulshrestha, U., Padmanabhamurty, B.: Monsoon rain chemistry and source apportionment using receptor modeling in and around national cpital region (NCR) of Delhi, India. Atmos. Environ. 41, 5595–5604 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiwari, S., Chate, D., Bisht, D., Srivastava, M., Padmanabhamurty, B.: Rainwater chemistry in the north western Himalaya region, India. Atmos. Res. 104-105, 128–138 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tripathy, G.R., Das, A.: Modeling geochemical datasets for source apportionment: comparison of least square regression and inversion approaches. J. Geochem. Explor. 144, 144–153 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tripathy, G.R., Singh, S.K.: Chemical erosion rates of river basins of the ganga system in the Himalaya: reanalysis based on inversion of dissolved major ions, Sr and 87Sr/86Sr. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 11(Q03013), 1–20 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripathy, G.R., Goswami, V., Singh, S.K., Chakrapani, G.J.: Temporal variations in Sr and 87Sr/86Sr of the ganga headwaters: estimates of dissolved Sr flux. Hydrol. Process. 24, 1159–1171 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vet, R., Artz, R., Carou, S., Shaw, M., Ro, C., Aas, W., Bakr, A., Bowersox, V., Dentener, F., Galy-Lacaux, C., Hou, A., Pienaar, J., Gillett, R., Forti, M., Gromov, S., Hara, H., Khodzher, T., Mahowald, N., Nickovic, S., Rao, P., Reid, N.: A global assessment of precipitation chemistry and deposition of sulfur, nitrogen, sea salt, base cations, organic acids, acidity and pH, and phosphorus. Atmos. Environ. 93, 3–100 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research work was carried out as a part of SM’s summer internship at IISER, Pune. The authors sincerely thank Ms. Sarala Das for her kind help and enthusiasm in collecting the samples. Help of Dr. Sumita Kedia in preparing the location map is thankfully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to Mr. Anupam Samanta for guidance during the IC analyses. Rainfall Data for the figures are taken from TRMM and IMD websites, whereas wind pattern data shown is taken from the NCEP data archive. The wind backward trajectory analyses were carried out from http://www.arl.noaa.gov. Financial support for this work is provided by DST-SERB through the Early Career Research grant to GRT (ECR/2016/001884). KR acknowledges support from ECR/2015/000490.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Climate Science, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune, 411008, India

    Gyana Ranjan Tripathy & Mohd Danish

  2. Rayagada Autonomous College, Rayagada, Odisha, 765001, India

    Smruti Mishra

  3. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Kirpa Ram

Authors
  1. Gyana Ranjan Tripathy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Smruti Mishra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mohd Danish
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kirpa Ram
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gyana Ranjan Tripathy.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 23 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tripathy, G.R., Mishra, S., Danish, M. et al. Elevated Barium concentrations in rain water from east-coast of India: role of regional lithology. J Atmos Chem 76, 59–72 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-019-9387-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-019-9387-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation