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Sedimentary Parameters and Evolution of the Outwash Plain Deposits during Late Holocene in the Gangotri Glacier Region, Garhwal Himalaya, India

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

Gangotri glacier located in the Uttarkashi District of the Garhwal Himalaya, is one of the longest valley glacier. It exhibits Lateral Moraines (LM), Recessional Moraines (RM), Kame Terraces (KT) and Outwash Plains (OWP) as important landforms. The sediments coded in these landforms, provide the information about sedimentary characteristics, and the evolutionary history of the Gangotri Glacier Region (GGR). The Gangotri is a well studied glacier, however the sedimentological characteristics and evolution of many landforms are yet to be understood. Therefore, present paper aimed to explain the sedimentological characteristics and the evolutionary history of the outwash plain deposits.

The OWP deposits were studied by making a trench near Bhujbas and collecting the samples from it. The granulometric analysis explain that the mean grain size of the OWP sediments varies from 0.258 φ to 2.006 φ indicate coarse to medium sand. The skewness, varies from 0.138 φ to 0.427 φ indicate dominance of fine grained sediments. The kurtosis varying from 0.839 φ to 1.067 φ explain the dominance of finer sediments. The standard deviation varies from 1.210 φ to 1.633 φ thus indicating poor sorting of the OWP deposits and fluctuation in the energy of the depositional environment. Five sedimentary facies identified are gravel sandy facies, ripple laminated silty sand facies, sandy facies, poorly sorted sandy facies and silty sand facies.

The study describes that the OWP deposits are stratified, consolidated to semi-consolidated, coarse to fine grained silt, sand and gravels with primary sedimentary structures, which are evolved by glacio-fluvial environment under fluctuating energy conditions during the late Holocene period.

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Acknowledgements

The Department of Science and Technology (SERB), Government of India is highly acknowledged for financial assistance (SB/DGH-68/2013) for the Gangotri glacier. We are thankful to the Head, Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow for providing the working facilities. Anoop Kumar Singh is thankful to SERB N-PDF (PDF/2020/000251), Dhirendra Kumar is thankful to UGC (PDFSS-2015-17-UTT-10685) and Chetan Anand Dubey to CSIR 09/107(0384)/2017-EMR-I for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, 226007, India

    Anoop Kumar Singh, Chetan Anand Dubey & Dhruv Sen Singh

  2. Department of Geology, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, 824 209, India

    Dhirendra Kumar

  3. AMS and Pelletron Group, Inter-University Accelerator Center, New Delhi, 110 067, India

    Rajveer Sharma

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  1. Anoop Kumar Singh
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Correspondence to Dhruv Sen Singh.

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Dr. Dhruv Sen Singh is working as a Professor and Head in Department of Geology, University of Lucknow and also as a Director at Institute of Hydrocarbon, Energy and Geo-Resources, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. He collected the field data and prepared/edited the original draft of the manuscript.

Dr. Anoop Kumar Singh is working as a SERB-NPDF in the Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. He analyzed the field samples and prepared/edited the original/revised draft of the manuscript.

Dr. Chetan Anand Dubey obtained his PhD degree from the Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. He collected, analyzed the field samples and prepared/edited the original draft of the manuscript.

Dr. Dhirendra Kumar is working as a Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar. He prepared the Arc GIS related map and edited the manuscript.

Dr. Rajveer Sharma is working as a Scientist D at AMS and Pelletron Group, Inter-University Accelerator Center, New Delhi. He did the Geochronology related work in the manuscript.

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Singh, A.K., Dubey, C.A., Singh, D.S. et al. Sedimentary Parameters and Evolution of the Outwash Plain Deposits during Late Holocene in the Gangotri Glacier Region, Garhwal Himalaya, India. J Geol Soc India 99, 1309–1316 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-023-2465-z

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