Precipitation chemistry at Sinhagad-a hill station in India

The chemistry of precipitation in remote sites such as mountain tops is of interest in the study of atmospheric pollution and acid rain. The chemical composition measured at mountain site which is away from industrial and urban areas is useful as a reference level and it allows to determine the extent of anthropogenic contamination. Hence, rain water samples were collected at Sinhagad (18°21'N, 73°45'E 1450 m asl) during the monsoon season (June-September) of 1992 and were analysed for major ions. The precipitation samples collected at Sinhagad were alkaline in nature and pH values ranged between 5.9 to 6.76. The ionic composition was dominated by soil dust. The concentration of Ca2+ was highest among all the ions. The concentrations of excess SO42- and NO3- were small (23.8 and 15.2 μeq l-1 respectively) compared to the values of polluted regions in India. The correlation coefficient between the ions and pH values was calculated and it was found to be maximum in case of Ca2+. Precipitation samples collected at Sinhagad were alkaline owing to higher concentration of Ca2+ and lower levels of acidic pollutants (SO42- and NO3-)