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Runoff in the upper Ganglass catchment is generated mainly from the snow melt. A summary of data during these periods is provided in Table 1. The slightly acidic to neutral pH values (5.2–7.3) of the runoff resembles the snow meltwater from the Kashmir valley (Lone & Khan 2007). EC of the meltwater is highest during the late snow melt period (50.99 ± 23.18 μs/cm), followed by early (33.93 ± 9.30 μs/cm) and peak snow melt period (26.15 ± 6.19 μs/cm). Ca and HCO₃ are the most dominant ions present throughout the melt period. Cation shows a similar trend of Ca > >Mg > Na > K for the whole melt period. The anions show a regular trend of HCO₃ > >SO₄ > Cl > NO₃ > PO₄ for peak and late snow melt periods. A similar trend has been observed in surface water of SE Kashmir (Jeelani et al. 2011; Bhat et al. 2014). Deposition of alkaline dust causing alkalinity and high Ca values in the fresh snow samples of Kashmir valley has also been reported (Lone & Khan 2007).

Table 1

Major ion composition of meltwater from the upper Ganglass catchment

	Early melt period 2010		Peak melt period 2010		Late melt period 2010
	Range	Average ± SD	Range	Average ± SD	Range	Average ± SD
Discharge	0.02–1.53	0.40 ± 0.49	0.93–8.46	2.15 ± 1.14	0.13–0.97	0.42 ± 0.24
EC	22.20–55.50	33.93 ± 9.30	17.60–37.0	26.15 ± 6.19	33.40–127.10	50.99 ± 23.18
pH	5.2–7.3	6.6 ± 0.29	5.3–7.0	6.2 ± 0.41	6.4–7.2	6.6 ± 0.21
Na	10–69.61	20.44 ± 13.54	8.09–52.13	19.43 ± 9.37	24.61–37.74	32.24 ± 3.75
K	6.82–25.54	12.84 ± 4.42	3.69–19.87	8.16 ± 2.84	9.69–14.97	11.73 ± 0.99
Ca	67.35–391	228 ± 75.70	94.45–243	157 ± 44.16	190–1,159	387 ± 246
Mg	25.83–72.83	42.07 ± 12.04	24.08–59.08	36.95 ± 10.52	49.33–282	82.25 ± 44.37
HCO₃	110–440	253 ± 79.29	80–290	170 ± 59.62	200–1,450	452 ± 295
PO₃	0–4.01	1.18 ± 0.74	0.44–4.36	1.36 ± 0.62	0.09–2.68	0.91 ± 0.75
SO₄	37.96–61.90	47.52 ± 7.34	41.73–60.94	49.73 ± 4.41	41.25–62.27	48.91 ± 4.56
NO₃	0.16–2.26	0.83 ± 0.47	0.16–14.52	1.37 ± 2.90	0.65–1.45	1.04 ± 0.27
Cl	8.18–14.10	10.98 ± 1.49	6.21–13.26	10.46 ± 1.55	9.59–13.26	11.45 ± 0.94
H₄SiO₄	7.96–19.09	12.94 ± 2.78	3.62–38.29	15.17 ± 7.04	2.42–43.22	27.35 ± 6.25
TZ⁺	179–513	302 ± 90.63	135–340	222 ± 61.80	300–1,307	513 ± 274
TZ⁻	180–494	314 ± 75.04	131–355	233 ± 61.26	261–1,506	514 ± 295
(Ca + Mg)/TZ⁺	0.60–0.92	0.88 ± 0.06	0.77–0.91	0.88 ± 0.03	0.84–0.96	0.9 ± 0.03
(Na + K)/TZ⁺	0.08–0.4	0.12 ± 0.06	0.09–0.23	0.12 ± 0.03	0.04–0.16	0.10 ± 0.03
(Ca + Mg)/(Na + K)	1.47–11.92	8.93 ± 2.50	3.33–10.70	7.56 ± 1.79	5.16–26.93	10.48 ± 5.46
Ca/Na	1.07–20.91	13.53 ± 4.45	2.91–13.66	9.07 ± 2.54	5.02–33.07	11.72 ± 6.55
Ca/Mg	1.7–6.56	5.39 ± 0.83	2.46–6.09	4.3 ± 0.65	1.69–11.42	4.71 ± 1.71
Mg/Na	0.6–3.29	2.43 ± 0.68	0.77–3.38	2.12 ± 0.58	1.60–8.78	2.53 ± 1.30
HCO₃/Na	2.15–25	15.07 ± 5.36	2.69–15.19	9.59 ± 2.81	5.30–41.38	13.71 ± 7.91
Na/Cl	1.01–5.71	1.87 ± 1.19	1.02–5.13	1.84 ± 0.84	1.98–3.56	2.83 ± 0.39
K/Cl	0.62–2.72	1.19 ± 0.44	0.41–3.20	0.80 ± 0.37	0.86–1.4	1.03 ± 0.12
C ratio	0.65–0.92	0.83 ± 0.06	0.59–0.86	0.76 ± 0.07	0.8–0.97	0.88 ± 0.04

	Early melt period 2010		Peak melt period 2010		Late melt period 2010
	Range	Average ± SD	Range	Average ± SD	Range	Average ± SD
Discharge	0.02–1.53	0.40 ± 0.49	0.93–8.46	2.15 ± 1.14	0.13–0.97	0.42 ± 0.24
EC	22.20–55.50	33.93 ± 9.30	17.60–37.0	26.15 ± 6.19	33.40–127.10	50.99 ± 23.18
pH	5.2–7.3	6.6 ± 0.29	5.3–7.0	6.2 ± 0.41	6.4–7.2	6.6 ± 0.21
Na	10–69.61	20.44 ± 13.54	8.09–52.13	19.43 ± 9.37	24.61–37.74	32.24 ± 3.75
K	6.82–25.54	12.84 ± 4.42	3.69–19.87	8.16 ± 2.84	9.69–14.97	11.73 ± 0.99
Ca	67.35–391	228 ± 75.70	94.45–243	157 ± 44.16	190–1,159	387 ± 246
Mg	25.83–72.83	42.07 ± 12.04	24.08–59.08	36.95 ± 10.52	49.33–282	82.25 ± 44.37
HCO₃	110–440	253 ± 79.29	80–290	170 ± 59.62	200–1,450	452 ± 295
PO₃	0–4.01	1.18 ± 0.74	0.44–4.36	1.36 ± 0.62	0.09–2.68	0.91 ± 0.75
SO₄	37.96–61.90	47.52 ± 7.34	41.73–60.94	49.73 ± 4.41	41.25–62.27	48.91 ± 4.56
NO₃	0.16–2.26	0.83 ± 0.47	0.16–14.52	1.37 ± 2.90	0.65–1.45	1.04 ± 0.27
Cl	8.18–14.10	10.98 ± 1.49	6.21–13.26	10.46 ± 1.55	9.59–13.26	11.45 ± 0.94
H₄SiO₄	7.96–19.09	12.94 ± 2.78	3.62–38.29	15.17 ± 7.04	2.42–43.22	27.35 ± 6.25
TZ⁺	179–513	302 ± 90.63	135–340	222 ± 61.80	300–1,307	513 ± 274
TZ⁻	180–494	314 ± 75.04	131–355	233 ± 61.26	261–1,506	514 ± 295
(Ca + Mg)/TZ⁺	0.60–0.92	0.88 ± 0.06	0.77–0.91	0.88 ± 0.03	0.84–0.96	0.9 ± 0.03
(Na + K)/TZ⁺	0.08–0.4	0.12 ± 0.06	0.09–0.23	0.12 ± 0.03	0.04–0.16	0.10 ± 0.03
(Ca + Mg)/(Na + K)	1.47–11.92	8.93 ± 2.50	3.33–10.70	7.56 ± 1.79	5.16–26.93	10.48 ± 5.46
Ca/Na	1.07–20.91	13.53 ± 4.45	2.91–13.66	9.07 ± 2.54	5.02–33.07	11.72 ± 6.55
Ca/Mg	1.7–6.56	5.39 ± 0.83	2.46–6.09	4.3 ± 0.65	1.69–11.42	4.71 ± 1.71
Mg/Na	0.6–3.29	2.43 ± 0.68	0.77–3.38	2.12 ± 0.58	1.60–8.78	2.53 ± 1.30
HCO₃/Na	2.15–25	15.07 ± 5.36	2.69–15.19	9.59 ± 2.81	5.30–41.38	13.71 ± 7.91
Na/Cl	1.01–5.71	1.87 ± 1.19	1.02–5.13	1.84 ± 0.84	1.98–3.56	2.83 ± 0.39
K/Cl	0.62–2.72	1.19 ± 0.44	0.41–3.20	0.80 ± 0.37	0.86–1.4	1.03 ± 0.12
C ratio	0.65–0.92	0.83 ± 0.06	0.59–0.86	0.76 ± 0.07	0.8–0.97	0.88 ± 0.04

Units: EC in μS/cm; H₄SiO₄ in μmol/l; dissolved ions, TZ⁺, TZ⁻ in μeq/l.

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