Sedimentological and Mineralogical Investigation of Beach Sediments of a Fast Prograding Cuspate Foreland (Point Calimere), Southeast Coast of India

Abstract

Beach sediments from the Point Calimere coast are studied for composition and for deciphering their origin and mode of deposition. The sediments are medium to fine sand. Heavy mineral suits are pyroxenes, amphiboles, muscovite, staurolite, ilmenite, sillimanite, zircon and garnet. The presence of pyrite under XRD indicates chemical precipitation under anoxic conditions. Quartz, orthoclase and oligoclase are lighter minerals identified under XRD. SEM micro-morphological features of quartz grains show both high wave and low energy conditions chemical actions. The conchoidal features, breakage blocks are inherited from the source itself before its deposition at Point Calimere while vast majority of chemical features like etch vs, precipitation features etc originate after deposition.