Sediment textural characteristics and mineral distributions of the surface sediments from Kodiyambalayam to Cuddalore coast, Tamil Nadu, India: implications for depositional environment

Abstract

This study aims to characterize the texture, heavy minerals, and quartz particle microtextures of sediments from Kodiyambalayam to Cuddalore Beach in Tamil Nadu, India. The textural properties and variability of the sediments were evaluated using metrics such as Mean (Mz), Standard Deviation (σ₁), Skewness (Sk_I), and Kurtosis (K_G). The results indicate that the sediment consists of medium sand (50%) and fine sand (50%), with grains relatively well sorted (76.67%). Skewness values range from negative to positive, with a minimum of 0.258 φ and a maximum of 0.413 φ. Kurtosis values further reveal that the sediments are predominantly leptokurtic (33.33%), mesokurtic (30%), platykurtic (30%), and very leptokurtic (6.67%). The beach process in a shallow maritime environment and turbidity action were represented by the sediment’s Linear Discriminant Function (LDF). According to the CM C-M (C-Coarse fraction, M-median grain size) pattern diagram of the sediments, deposition occurs in bottom suspension. Quartz granules exhibit distinctive surface microtextures that differ in mechanical, chemical, and morphological properties. Conchoidal cracks and arcuate steps on sand grains indicate that they formed from crystalline rocks. The heavy minerals come from granulitic gneiss and charnockites. FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) was used to identify minerals in sediment samples. These included quartz, feldspar, clay minerals, carbonate minerals, and organic carbon. Overall, these data provide significant results of the study site for further levels of sediment pollution and environmental studies.