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Isotope-geochemical assessment of thermal waters and their impact on surrounding potable water resources in the Tapi valley geothermal area, Maharashtra, India

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Abstract

Geochemical and isotopic investigations were carried out in the Tapi Valley geothermal area in India to determine the principal factors that are responsible for the geochemical evolution of the thermal and non-thermal waters in the study area. The impact of thermal water discharges on the surrounding potable water resources had also been assessed. It was found that thermal water did not contain any toxic elements (mercury, antimony, arsenic) which are detrimental to human consumption. Thermal waters were found to be less mineralized compared to the non-thermal ground waters. The water types of the thermal and non-thermal waters were found to be mostly Na–Cl–HCO3 and Ca–Mg–HCO3, respectively. Silicate weathering and ion-exchange processes were found to be main factors that determined the dissolved solute concentration in the study area. Stable isotopic (δ18O, δ2H) analysis unequivocally established the meteoric origin of the thermal waters. Thermal waters in Unapdeo, Anekdev, Kundwa and Ratanpura were found to have distinct isotopic compositions signifying that separate reservoirs were feeding these hot springs. The application of chemical geothermometers showed a wide variation in the estimation of reservoir temperature. The quartz geothermometer produced the most reliable reservoir temperature estimate of 110 ± 12 °C. Multicomponent geothermometry was found to better constrain the reservoir temperature. This modelling result indicated that the thermal water in this region had attained simultaneous equilibrium with respect to quartz, aragonite, stilbite, calcite, enstatite, heulandite, diopside minerals in the temperature range of 120 ± 5 °C which could be taken as the subsurface reservoir temperature.

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Availability of data and material

All the data and material are provided in the manuscript only.

Code availability

GeoT computer code used to calculate multicomponent geothermometry calculation can be accessed through https://eesa.lbl.gov/technology/geot/.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge Dr. H.J. Pant, Head, IRAD for his support and encouragement during the study. The authors would like to thank all the officers of GSI associated with this project for their active co-operation in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Isotope and Radiation Application Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India

    Sitangshu Chatterjee & U. K. Sinha

  2. Geothermal Division, Geological Survey of India, Nagpur, 440006, India

    B. P. Biswal & S. D. Patbhaje

Authors
  1. Sitangshu Chatterjee
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  2. B. P. Biswal
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  3. U. K. Sinha
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  4. S. D. Patbhaje
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Contributions

Mr. Sitangshu Chatterjee conceptualised the framework of the draft, analysed the isotopic parameters and written the manuscript. Mr. B.P. Biswal carried out the fieldwork, collected geological and hydro-geological information, prepared requisite maps. Dr. U.K. Sinha and S.D. Patbhaje had supervised the whole project.

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Correspondence to Sitangshu Chatterjee.

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Chatterjee, S., Biswal, B.P., Sinha, U.K. et al. Isotope-geochemical assessment of thermal waters and their impact on surrounding potable water resources in the Tapi valley geothermal area, Maharashtra, India. Environ Earth Sci 80, 424 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09709-0

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