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- 460 - International Journal of Sediment Research, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2011, pp. 460–470
International Journal of Sediment Research 26 (2011) 460-470
Variations in texture of beach sediments in the vicinity of the Tirumalairajanar river mouth of India
Senapathi VENKATRAMANAN
1
, Thirunavukkarasu RAMKUMAR 
2
, Irudhayanathan ANITHAMARY
1
, and Govindaraj RAMESH
3
 
Abstract
The distribution of grain size parameters along 11 km stretch of the beach sediments between Karikal and Nagore, reveals that the mean grain size exhibits a marked decreasing trend on either side of the mouth of the Tirumalairajanar River which flow from west to east. The sediments are mainly of medium to coarse grained, moderately sorted, near-symmetrical skewed to fine skewed and leptokurtic to mesokurtic in nature. Interrelationship of various parameters shows bimodal nature of sediments having dominance of medium to coarse sand. The major part of the sediment fall in a coarse to fine grained category (sand and silt). Based on the CM (Coarser one percentile value in micron) pattern, the sediment fall in rolling and suspension field. These factors includes the sediments discharged from the river mixes with offshore sediments and with the sediments eroded from a source rock. The effect of wave sorting, and the northward drifting of sediments by littoral current are understandable. Results indicate that the Tirumalairajanar River is the most important source for modern sediments in the study area. The agitation by waves is an important sorting mechanism in the study area, and the net sediment transport in the study area is northward. The findings are based on the grain sizes and also corroborated by short-term observations of the beach sediment dynamics and transport during the monsoon and summer seasons between Karaikal and Nagore region.
Key Words
: Grain size analysis, Beach sediments, Tirumalairajanr, East coast
1
 
Introduction
 Any depositional system is composed of a sediment source and a dispersal zone, which is a combination of a conduit and sink(s) (Swift et al., 1972). In a particular system, the sediment distribution pattern is determined by the source material, the transport process and the type of environment (fluvial, deltaic etc.; Tanner, 1962). In a coastal depositional environment, the interaction among the sediment supply, the energy dissipation pattern, and the geology of the area produces an unique set of shoreline geomorphology, offshore bathymetry, and surfiacial texture of the substrate that are characteristics of the system. The sediment pathways between the source(s) and sink(s) within coastal depositional systems are complex, since the transport agents are processes relating to the river discharge (or runoff), nearshore wave field, coastal tides, local wind field, and episodic storms, each having its own spatial and temporal characteristics. Where a river discharges into the coastal sea, two major categories of coastal depositional systems can occur. An estuary is formed if the seaward portion of the drowned river valley is being filled
1
 
Research scholar, Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, 608002. Tamilnadu, India, E-mail: venkatramanansenapathi@gmail.com.
2
 Assoc. Prof., and Head. Dr., Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, 608002, Tamilnadu, India, E-mail: tratrj@gmail.com
3
 Asst. Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, 608002. Tamilnadu, India. 608002  Note: The original manuscript of this paper was received in Aug. 2010. The revised version was received in Sept. 2011. Discussion open until Dec. 2012.
 
 
International Journal of Sediment Research, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2011, pp. 460–470 - 461 -
with both fluvial and marine sediments (mixed source) (Dalrymple et al., 1992). A river delta is formed when an estuary is filled, resulting in a prograding shoreline (fluvial source dominates) near the river mouth. The quantity and pattern of sediment supply and how the available sediments are dispersed in a coastal depositional system not only determines the configuration and geomorphology of the system, but also determines the long-term behavior of the system such as accretional or erosional (Wright and Coleman, 1972; Galloway, 1975; Orton and Reading, 1993; Azharul Hoque et al., 2010; Dinakaran and Krishnayya, 2011). Worldwide, the major sediment sources for most coastal depositional systems are riverine. Poppe et al. (2004) pointed out the measures that describe and summarize that the sediment grain-size distributions are important to geologists because of the large amount of information contained in textural data sets. Statistical methods are usually employed to simplify the necessary comparisons among samples and quantify the observed differences. The two statistical methods most commonly used  by sedimentologists to describe particle distributions are mathematical moments (Krumbein and Pettijohn, 1938) and inclusive graphics (Folk, 1957). In the present investigation, the grain size parameters are used to interpret sediment movement in the  beach segment from Karikal to Nagore with special mention about the processes operating around the Tirumalairajanarar and Arasalar river mouth.
2 Description of the study area
The study area (Fig. 1) forms part of Karaikal and Nagapattinam district. It falls between the latitude N
000011
 
and N000510
 
and longitude E000479
 
and E000579
 
and forms part of survey of India Toposheet No 58M/13 and 16 on 1:50,000 scale. The Cauvery, Arasalar, Tirmalarajanar, Vellar, Adappar, Vettar and Vedaranyam canals are the main rivers flowing in this area and debauches in to the Bay of Bengal. The study area is surrounded by the Tanjore district in the west, Cuddalore district in the north, Palk straight in the south and Bay of Bengal in the east.
Fig. 1
 Location map of the area of study
 
- 462 - International Journal of Sediment Research, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2011, pp. 460–470
3 Material and methods
A total of forty sediment samples were collected from the 20 stations during high and low tide levels of the beach by using a plastic spatula covering the period of Monsoon 2009 (November) and Summer 2010 (May). Samples were stored frozen before the analysis. Then, they were dried in an oven at 60°C for 24 hours to a constant weight (Holme and Macintyre, 1971). Sieving technique is applied to separate the grains of various size classes (Ingram, 1970). Initially 100 gm of sample is prepared by treating with 10% dilute hydrochloric acid and 6% hydrogen peroxide respectively. Sieving was carried out in ASTM sieve at 1/4
 intervals for about 20 minute in Digital sieve shaker (Retsch AS 200). This basic data i.e. weight  percentage frequency data is converted into cumulative weight percentage data, served as basic tool for the generation of other statistical parameters (Tables 1A and B) using GSSTAT, SEDPLOT program developed by USGS. The input for the sediment fractions (Inclusive graphics, Folk, 1974) is weight  percentages in 1/2 phi notation (Krumbein, 1934; Inman, 1952).
Table 1A
 Graphic measure from the grain-size analysis of the samples (Monsoon)
4 Results and discussion
4.1 Grain size analysis The comparative study of the histograms of retained fractions of sieve analysis shows most of sediment samples ranged from coarse to fine-grain. Similarly, most of the cumulative frequency curves shows same trend in both seasons. During monsoon seasons, a little improvement in the sorting of grains. This is  because of the dominance of coarse and medium sand size sediments in relatively high wave energy where wave action could remove finer material by winnowing and transporting it elsewhere (Fig. 2). In summer seasons, the dominance of medium grained, it is may be due to limited inputs and weak wave energy condition (Fig. 3).
Station Median  phi Mean  phi Standard deviation phiSkewness  phi Kurtosis  phi Sand % Silt % Clay %MS1 1.62 1.69 0.66 0.15 1.32 96.12 3.02 1.02 MS2 1.68 1.73 0.87 0.16 1.34 95.7 3.3 0.85 MS3 1.64 1.71 0.8 0.2 1.49 95.33 3.67 1.05 MS4 1.68 1.74 0.81 0.16 1.34 95.65 3.3 0.08 MS5 1.39 1.39 0.93 0.15 1.41 95.31 4.69 0.96 MS6 1.44 1.41 0.68 0.04 1.6 95.42 2.47 2.3 MS7 1.36 1.36 0.79 0.05 1.23 95.56 2.2 1.33 MS8 1.59 1.54 1.07 0.05 0.85 95.74 4.26 0.56 MS9 2.3 2.27 0.71 0.06 1.36 95.44 4.56 0.78 MS10 2.24 2.2 0.64 -0.01 1.17 96.62 3.38 0.43 MS11 2.26 2.21 0.67 0 1.24 96.34 2.66 1.76 MS12 1.97 2.01 0.7 0.19 1.22 95.46 2.65 1.86 MS13 2.39 2.36 0.66 0.03 1.6 95.45 4.55 0.88 MS14 2.27 2.18 0.8 -0.08 1.34 95.99 4.01 0.04 MS15 2.41 2.39 0.67 0.04 1.56 95.48 4.52 0.02 MS16 2.24 2.17 0.6 -0.17 1.02 98.73 0.1 1.76 MS17 1.94 1.85 0.97 -0.04 1.2 95.32 2.68 1.33 MS18 1.4 1.36 0.71 0.01 1.44 95.9 2.66 1.8 MS19 1.59 1.64 0.63 0.08 1.29 98.25 1.75 0.03 MS20 1.47 1.46 0.8 0.04 1.15 95.74 4.26 0.76 Minimum 1.36 1.36 0.6 -0.17 0.85 95.31 0.1 0.02 Maximum 2.41 2.39 1.07 0.2 1.6 98.73 4.69 2.3 Average 1.85 1.83 0.77 0.052 1.30 96.072 3.16 0.993

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