Water quality in the Tibetan Plateau: Major ions and trace elements in the headwaters of four major Asian rivers

The Tibetan Plateau covers an area of about one fourth of Europe, has an average elevation over 4000 m above sea level, and is the water sources for about 40% of world's population. In order to foresee future changes in water quality, it is important to understand what pressures are governing the spatial variation in water chemistry. In this paper the chemistry including major ions and trace elements in the headwaters of four major Asian rivers (i.e. the Salween, Mekong, Yangtze River and Yarlung Tsangpo) in the Tibetan Plateau was studied. The results showed that the content of dissolved salts in these Tibetan rivers was relatively high compared to waters from other parts of the world. The chemical composition of the four rivers were rather similar, with Ca²⁺ and HCO₃^- being the dominating ions. The exception was the Yangtze River on the Plateau, which was enriched in Na⁺, Cl^-, SO₄^2- and Li due to silicate weathering followed by strong evaporation caused by a negative water balance, dissolution of evaporites in the catchment and some drainage from saline lakes. The concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Co, Cr, Ni, Cd, Pb, and Hg) and As, NH₄⁺ were generally low in all the rivers. Anthropogenic impacts on the quality of the rivers were identified at a few locations in the Mekong River and Yarlung Tsangpo basins. Generally, the main spatial variation in chemical compositions of these under studied rivers was found to be governed mainly by difference in geological variation and regional climatic-environment. Climate change is, therefore, one of main determining factors on the water chemical characteristics of these headwaters of Asian major rivers in the Tibetan Plateau.