RARE-EARTH ELEMENT GEOCHEMISTRY OF MODERN DETRITAL SEDIMENTS FROM CHALIYAR RIVER, NORTHERN KERALA

Sigma REE in the detrital sediments from Chaliyar river channel ranges from 37.7 to 65.5 ppm, which is around 0.3 times that of the average crust and NASC, and is lower compared to that of their provenance rock s. The highly fractionated chondrite-normalized REE pattern of the ave rage sediment mimics that of the average provenance rock, but for the presence of a negative europium anomaly that is suggestive of preferen tial removal of plagioclase during weathering. The similarity in the R EE contents of samples from different locations in the main channel re flects the immobility of rare earths in fluvial transportation and tec tonic stability of the basin.