Geochemical and radiogenic Sr-Nd isotope composition of sandy Thar surface sediments from southwest Rajasthan

Sandy sediment supplies to the Thar Desert and its importance in downwind dust emissions toward the Himalayas are underexplored. We provide a new dataset of geochemical and radiogenic Sr-Nd isotope composition of 51 sandy surface sediments collected from a large hyper-arid area in Southwest Rajasthan. These data show compositionally immature but recycled sediments of the Himalayan orgen. The major sediment delivery to the Thar Desert was routed through the eolian transport of Indus shelf sediments exposed during the LGM and afterward deglaciation times. Significant sediment contributions from upwind Ghaggar-Hakra Paleochannels were also found. Further, the dust delivery to the Himalayan frontal glaicers from a proximal dust souce region (Indo-Gangetic Plain, IGP) was found as significant as remotely contributed from the Thar Desert.