DISCUSSION: APPLICATION OF THE QDa–Md METHOD OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISCRIMINATION TO PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS OF FINE SEDIMENTS

Duck's recent finding (R. W. Duck, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 1994, 19 , 525–529) that QDa and Md parameters derived from pipette and SediGraph analysis of sediments from Loch Tummel returned similar results can be interpreted in two ways. The observed consistency could result from (i) a general agreement between the methods (as is suggested by Duck) or (ii) from the use of inappropriate parameters (Md and QDa) to describe polymodal distributions.