An assessment of nutrient, sediment and carbon fluxes to the Indus Delta

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Research Paper 01/06/2017
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An assessment of nutrient, sediment and carbon fluxes to the Indus Delta

Asif Inam, Mohsin Muzaffar, Khalid Mehmood Awan, Syed Imran Hasany, Ibrahim Zia, Mahmood Hashmi
J. Biodiv. & Environ. Sci. 10(6), 27-37, June 2017.
Copyright Statement: Copyright 2017; The Author(s).
License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Abstract

Nutrient and carbon flux play a significant role in the deltaic nourishment. These  fluxes significantly  involved  in the stability of deltaic coast. Recent studies reflect that Indus River discharge is subtracted due to Khobar Creek, which is presently the only creek that carries the fresh water of Indus River into the Arabian Sea. There has been a drastic reduction in the load of nutrients brought by Indus River for the last fifty years. This reduction in Indus discharge has a negative impact on the Indus estuary and the productivity of the mangrove forest and fisheries. The Indus River bed sediments have relatively low values of calcium carbonate (< 10%) because sand contains relatively high concentrations of mica (36%), quartz (37%) and feldspar (11%) with very little percentage of detrital carbonate sediments. The organic carbon and calcium carbonate content in the sediment samples obtained from the area averages <1% and <15% respectively.  Low values of the Corg (< 1%) were obtained for the bed samples of the Indus River. The bed sediments are generally composed of fine sand size material. Therefore, they have comparatively less Corg. The Indus River water and sediment discharge to the deltaic area and eventually to Arabian Sea is limited to few days during the months of July and August.

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Iftikhar U.  2002. Valuing the economic costs of environmental degradation due to sea intrusion in the Indus Delta’, in IUCN, Sea Intrusion in the Coastal and Riverine Tracts of the Indus Delta – A Case Study. IUCN – The World Conservation Union Pakistan Country Office, Karachi

Inam A, Clift PD, Giosan L, Tebrez AR, Tahir M, Rabbani MM, and Danish M. 2007. The Geographic, Geological and Oceanographic Setting of the Indus River. Book Geomorphology and Management, Chapter 16, 333-346.

IRIN. 2001. Pakistan: Intruding sea water threatens Indus River, UN Office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs integrated regional information networks article, December 31.

Kalhoro NA, He Z, Xu D, Faiz M, Yafei LV, Sohoo N, and Bhutto AH. 2016. Vulnerability of the Indus River Delta of the North Arabian Sea, Pakistan, Global NEST Journal, 18(3), 599-610.

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