Chemometric approach to evaluate the chemical behavior of rainwater at high altitude in Shaune Garang catchment, Western Himalaya

The present research study was performed to analyze the chemical behavior of rainwater in the Shaune Garang catchment (32.19°N, 78.20°E) in the Baspa basin, which is located at a high elevation (4221m above mean sea level). The volume-weighted mean (VWM) pH value of rainwater ranged between 4.59 and 6.73, with an average of 5.47 0.69, indicating that alkaline rainfall events primarily influenced the catchment during the study. The total ionic strength in the rainwater ranged from 113.4 to 263.3 µeq/l with an average of 169.1 ± 40.4 µeq/l. The major dominant cations were measured as Ca 2+ (43.1%) and Na + (32%) and anions, Cl − (37.7%), SO 4 2− (28.7%) and NO 3 − (23.8%) in rainwater. The fraction of NO 3 − + Cl − with SO 4 2− was measured as 2.3, which specifies sour faces of rainwater due to HNO 3 - , H 2 SO 4 , and HCl. Chemometric evaluation of rainwater within the Shaune Garang catchment, including Principal Component and Factor analysis. According to the findings, the composition of rainwater in the pristine Himalayas is moreover influenced by man-made and natural causes of pollutants due to long-distance transference. The air mass trail investigation demonstrates the impact of airborne primary and secondary particle transportation that influences the chemical composition of precipitation.