DETERMINATION OF SEDIMENTARY SOURCE IN THE PORT OF HASHIDATE BY USINGGEOCHEMICAL ELEMENTS

To estimate the direction of sand movement and find the sedimentary so urces near and in the fishery port of Hashidate, where the breakwater arrangement is very complex, the ratios of geochemical elements to con struct sand samples are obtained by an X-ray fluorescent spectroscopy (XRF). The method of ratio matching gives correlation numbers (not cor relation coefficient) which are different from the statistical meaning s and show the similarity between two sand samples in the ratio of geo chemical elements. The geochemical aspect of the sedimentary sand in t he port is found to be similar to sand on Hashidate swimming beach. So the sedimentary source in the port is considered to be caused by the littoral drift of sand from Hashidate swimming beach. The result of th is study is in good agreement with the comparisons of shoreline change s at Hashidate swimming beach and contour lines near the port using se a-bottom topographies and aerial photographs in different years. The a nalysis of a satellite image proves the result of this study is correc t. These insist that the method of ratio matching and gradients of eac h element using geochemical elements in sand samples is very reliable for finding the sedimentary source and determining net sediment transp ort path.