12-Isotopic Investigations of Groundwater Of Moth Block of Jhansi District Bundelkhand Region.

Abstract

Isotopes in hydrology give a direct insight into the movement and distribution processes within the hydrological system. Water in its natural state contains environmental isotopes and conclusions may be drawn from their abundance variations. The isotopes commonly employed in hydrological investigations are the heavy stable isotopes of the water molecule, deuterium and oxygen-18 and the radioactive isotopes, tritium and carbon-14. The stable isotopes are excellent indicators of the circulation of water, while the radioactive isotopes are of special value in detecting the residence time, assuming no contamination of the water has occurred. The application of these techniques in connection with surface and groundwater in India are discussed briefly with four case studies. It can be concluded that these techniques complement the more traditional hydrological and hydrogeological methods employed in water resource investigations and that their use should be encouraged. In recent years, the increasing threat to ground water quality due to human activities has become a matter of great concern. Jhansi area sprawling and incoming of new industries around it have increased concern about the fate of groundwater quality. The report presents an assessment on isotopes composition of groundwater quality index of Moth block of district Jhansi. Twenty groundwater samples from different places of study area (Moth block) were collected The stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen incorporated in the water molecule (180 and 211) have become an important tool not only in Isotope Hydrology, routinely applied to study the origin and dynamics of surface and ground waters, but also in studies related to atmospheric circulation and palaeoclimatic investigations. A proper understanding of the behaviour of these tracers in the water cycle is required for a meaningful use of these tools in any of these disciplines. Our knowledge of the vertical distribution and the factors controlling the stable isotope ratios of oxygen and hydrogen in atmospheric moisture derives from a limited number of observations and vertical profiles in the atmosphere. An international programme jointly operated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and operational since 1961, has resulted in the development of a dedicated database to monitor isotope ratios in precipitation in more than 500 meteorological stations world-wide. The main features of the spatial and temporal variations of stable isotope ratios of oxygen and hydrogen in precipitation and atmospheric moisture at the global scale are presented based on the analysis of limited data on water vapour, data obtained by the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) and the few observations at high latitudes.