Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences :
- Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, under India DST, which investigated & characterised the gas emissions from Himalayan geothermal springs, found that Himalayan Geothermal Springs release huge amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- The study suggests that CO2 in these thermal springs gets sourced from metamorphic decarbonation of carbonate rocks present deep in the Himalayan core along with magmatism and oxidation of graphite.
- These springs, which cover about 10,000 square km in the Garhwal region of Himalaya, show a significant discharge of Carbon dioxide(CO2) rich water.
- The estimated carbon dioxide degassing flux is nearly 7.2 ×106 mol/year into the atmosphere.