TEXTURE AND MINERALOGICAL COMPOSITION OF SEDIMENTS ALONG GANJAM COAST, EAST-COAST OF INDIA

Foreshore as well as backshore sediment samples were collected from fo ur stations and subsequently analysed for their texture and mineral co mposition viz. percentage of silicate, magnetite and calcareous materi als. The sediments of the beach are predominantly in medium class (75. 92%) and fine sand class (20.37%), moderately sorted (85.19%) to well sorted, symmetrical to positively skewed (50%), platykurtic (40.74%) t o mesokurtic (37.04%). Quartz and feldspars are dominant minerals alon g with sillimanite, rutile, ilmenite and zircon. Result of R-mode fact or analysis reveals that carbonates are concentrated in the coarser si ze fractions (< 0.5 phi and 0.5 to 1.0 phi), whereas magnetites are co ncentrated in finer size fractions (2.0 - 2.5 phi, 2.5 - 3.0 phi & 3.0 - 3.5 phi).