Factors controlling suspended sediment transport in Himalayan glacier meltwaters

Suspended sediment concentration was determined both on the rising and falling limbs of the flow hydrograph between 28 August and 21 September 1992 and 23 October to 17 November 1993 within a 600-m reach of the Dokriani Glacier portal, Ganga basin, Garhwal Himalaya. In the Ganga basin proglacial stream patterns of sediment flux first follow the spring rise in discharge between April and June, then the frequency of occurrence of monsoonal rainstorms has an impact, increasing the discharges with high sediment flux between July and mid-September, and after the cessation of rainfall the discharges are mainly controlled by outflows from subglacial waters. Coupling sediment with runoff suggests that glacially controlled sediment exhaustion is offset between July and the middle of September by the monsoonal regime and later maintained sediment transfer by the subglacial linked cavity or distributed system.