SUSCEPTIBILITY OF A MOUNTAINOUS KARST SPRING TO CLIMATE AND LAND USE/LANDCOVER CHANGE, LIDDAR BASIN, KASHMIR, INDIA

Due to relatively rapid infiltration and groundwater velocities, karst aquifers are often vulnerable to environmental changes. Moreover, carbonate weathering varies with climate, topography, lithology, biogenic activity, and structural characteristics. Therefore, the responses of karst aquifers to hydro-meteorological factors (e.g., precipitation, temperature) vary greatly depending upon local conditions. We focused on Martandnag Spring, located in the Liddar basin in the southeastern part of the Kashmir valley of India. This region experiences rain and snowfall brought by western disturbances during winter and spring and, to a lesser extent, rainfall during the Indian summer monsoon. Summer meltwater released from snowpack and glacier fields plays an important role in surface and subsurface hydrology in this region. Temperature changes impact the transition from snow to rainfall, affecting the cryospheric processes and hydrology in this catchment. Statistical time-series analyses (i.e., autocorrelation, cross-correlation, cross-spectrum) and remote sensing techniques (e.g., Normalized Difference Snow Index) are being employed to examine responses of spring flow to recharge from rainfall and meltwater. Machine learning techniques (i.e., random forest) will also be implemented to evaluate the spring response to climate and land use/landcover changes.