Research Projects

The Himalayan range has experienced various climatic events during the Holocene epoch, but understanding the paleo-hydrological conditions and their forcing factors in the Himalayas is challenging due to factors such as complex interactions between teleconnections, lack of spatially distinct climate records, sensitivity of climate proxies, chronological uncertainties, and the interaction between lake's intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This proposal aims to improve our understanding of past hydrological changes and their forcing factors in the Himalayas by using sediments from three Himalayan Lakes (Mansar, Garud, and Khecheoplari Lake) covering a vast Himalayan transect. The objectives include developing a modern calibration dataset for quantitative transfer functions to reconstruct climate, developing new high-resolution multi-proxy records to capture regional hydrological extremes along the NW to NE climate gradient in the Indian Himalayas, and identifying the impact of climate-induced hydrological changes on biological productivity and thresholds. The methodology will include field investigation, sediment, water, and vegetation sample collection, geomorphic mapping, and seasonal measurement of physico-chemical characteristics of the lake water profile. The project will provide a new approach focusing on proxy development using modern calibration of proxies in lakes from distinct geographical and climatic regimes, filling gaps in our understanding of climate variability in the NW to NE Himalayan transect.

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