Nature and Provenance of Heavy Mineral Distribution at Krishna River Delta, East Coast of India

Authors

  • NAGA MURALI KRISHNA KOYYA SASI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51710/jias.v39i1.206

Keywords:

Heavy minerals, Deccan traps, Eastern Ghat Granulite Belt and Archean rocks

Abstract

The present study deals with four sedimentary cores viz. Turumella (120m), Inturu (160m), Ponnapalli (110m) and Nizampatnam (150m) which were recovered from the Krishna delta. Total heavy minerals wt% varies from 0.32 to 7.00 (av. 2.44%) in the study area. The major heavy minerals were noticed in four studied cores i.e. opaques (Ilmenite + magnetite), pyriboles (pyroxenes + amphiboles), garnet, zircon, monazite, rutile and other heavy minerals (epidote, kyanite, tourmaline, etc.). Heavy mineral substance in Krishna river sediments forced by basement rocks, drainage basin and weathering conditions of the river environment. The occurrence of different lithological units in the drainage basins is contributing sediments, mainly opaques (Ilmenite + magnetite) and pyriboles (Amphibole + pyroxenes) from Deccan traps as well as Archean provenance which covered more than 55% of drainage basin. The red garnets (almandine), prismatic sillimanites and rounded zircons are derived from khondalites (metapeletic rocks) and pink garnets, elongated zircons and ortho- pyroxenes are derived from charnockites of Eastern Ghat Granulite Belt (EGGB). The fresh appearance of heavy minerals indicates short residence time in depositional environment without any chemical dissolution effect. The rounded and sub rounded grains of magnetite and ilmenite indicate long distance of transportation and/or reworked nature. The sub angular grains of magnetite and ilmenite indicate that they might have been derived from nearby sources, i.e. mainly an Eastern Ghat Group of rocks. The prismatic characteristic of the sillimanite mineral grains also suggests that their derivation is from khondalitic rocks. Opaques are from Deccan traps as well as Archean provenance. Garnets, sillimanites and zircons are derived from khondalites (metapeletic rocks) and charnockites of Eastern Ghat Granulite Belt.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Akaram, V., Das, S.S., Rai, A.K and Mishra, G., 2015. Heavy mineral variation in the deep sea sediment of southeastern Arabian Sea during the past 32 kyr. Jour. Earth Sys.Sci, 124: 477–486

Blatt, H., 1967. Provenance determinations and recycling of sediments. Jour. Sed. Pet., 37: 1031-1044.

Dora, Y.L. 1978. Certain aspects of provenance and sedimentation of the modern sediments of the Godavari River and Vasishta- Godavari distributary, India. Ph.D. Thesis, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

Galehouse, S. 1971. In: R. E. Carver, ed., Procedures in Sedimentary Petrology, Wiley – Interscience, New York, 69-94.

Johnson, M. J., Stallard, R. F and Lundberg, N., 1991. Controls on the composition of fluvial sands from a tropical weathering environment: Sands of the Orinoco River drainage basin, Venezuela and Colombia. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 103: 1622-1647.

Krishna Rao, B and Swamy, A. S. R., 1991. Sediment characteristics of environments in the modern Krishna – Godavari deltas. In Quaternary deltas of India. Geol. Soc. India. Mem. 22: 121-138.

Krumbein, W. C and Pettijohn, F. J., 1938. Manual of sedimentary Petrography, New York, Appletpon century – Crofts, 549.

Kwon, Y., Park, K and Yu, K., 1999. Detrital heavy-mineral characteristics of rift-related sediments from the Dragon-1 Well in the Cheju Basin (NE East China Sea), Korea. Geosci. Jour., 3: 115–121

Liu, X., Zhang, D., Zhai, S., Liu, X., Chen, H., Luo, W., Li, N and Xiu, C., 2015. A heavy mineral viewpoint on sediment provenance and environment in the Qiongdongnan Basin. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 34, 41–55.

Mange, M. A and Wright, D. T., 2007. Heavy minerals in use Developments in Sedimentology, 58: 1328

Meng, Q., Zhang, W., Zhang, J and Wu, T. Z. Z., 2016. Heavy minerals analysis to identify sediment provenance in the Dan River drainage, China. Jour. Geosci., 1: 1-14.

Morton, A.C and Hallsworth, C.R., 1994. Identifying provenance specific features of detrital heavy mineral assemblages in sandstones. Sed. Geol., 90, 241–256.

Morton, A.C. and Hallsworth, C.R., 1999. Processes controlling the composition of heavy mineral assemblages in sandstones. Sed. Geol., 124, 3–29.

Morton, A.C., 1985, Heavy Minerals in Provenance Studies. Provenance of Arenites NATO ASI Series, 148, 249–277.

Naidu, A.S., 1966. Lithological and chemical facies changes in recent deltaic sediments of Godavari River, India; deltas in their geological frame work (Editor M.L.Shirley) Houston Geological Society. 1: 125-127.

Nayak, G. N. (2021) Changing Tropical Estuarine Sedimentary Environments with Time and Metals Contamination, West Coast of India. Journal Indian Association of Sedimentologists, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 63-78.

Rajasekhar Reddy, D., Malathi, V., Reddy, K. S. N and Varma, D. D., 1998. Heavy minerals in different environments of beaches between Pudimadaka and Pentakota, East Coast of India. Jour. Ind. Acad. Geosci., 41(2): 47-54.

Reddy, K. S. N., Deva Varma, D., Dhanamjaya Rao, E . N., Veeranarayana, B and Lakshmi Prasad, T., 2012. Distribution of heavy minerals in Nizampatnam – Lankavanidibba coastal sands, Andhra Pradesh, east coast of India. Jour. Geol. Soc. India, 79: 411-418.

Sambasiva Rao, M. S., 1979. Studies on charterstics of sediments in different sub environment of the modern Godavari delta. Ph.D., Thesis submitted to the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (Unpublished).

Satyanarayana. K., 1973. Some aspects of the Modern Deltaic sediments of the Mahanadi River, India. Ph.D., Thesis submitted to the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (Unpublished).

Seralathan, P., 1979. Studies on texture, mineralogy and geochemistry of the modern deltaic sediments of the Cauvery River, India. Ph.D., Thesis submitted to the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (Unpublished).

Sreenivasa Rao, P., Satyanarayana, G and Swamy, A. S. R., 1995. Heavy minerals of modern and relict sediments of Nizampatnam bay, east coast of India. Ind. Jour. Mar. sci., 24: 166-170.

Suttner, L. J., Basu, A and Mack, G. H., 1981. Climate and the origin of quartz arenites. Jour. Sed. Pet., 51: 1235-1246.

Swamy, A. S. R., 1970. Studies on some aspects of the modern deltaic sediments of Krishna River, India. Ph.D., Thesis submitted to the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (Unpublished).

Downloads

Published

2022-06-30

How to Cite

KOYYA, N. M. K. (2022). Nature and Provenance of Heavy Mineral Distribution at Krishna River Delta, East Coast of India. Journal of The Indian Association of Sedimentologists (peer Reviewed), 39(1), 52–63. https://doi.org/10.51710/jias.v39i1.206
Share |