Texture and mineralogy of Periyar river (southwest coast of India) sediments

Abstract

Bed sediments from the Periyar river were collected and analysed to understand the sedimentological characteristics. Grain size of the Periyar sediment varies from the size of a granule to that of a medium clay. Majority of the sediments are poorly sorted, positively skewed and platy to mesokurtic in nature. Heavy minerals are concentrated in medium fraction (125 mum). Major heavy minerals observed are opaques followed by hornblende, hypersthene, mica and sillimanite. However, the sediments in the downstream shows an additional input when compared to the upstream sediments. A wide variation in the upstream and downstream sediments are attributed to the multiple source of derivation and varying energy conditions during the deposition.