Depositional environment in and around Tamiraparani estuary,and off Tuticorin,Tamil Nadu,India: clues from grain size studies

The sediments of the estuaries and offshore Tuticorin along the southern coast of Tamil Nadu were studied for their textural variation. Ninety sediment samples were collected from three sectors (river, estuary, offshore) on the basis of prevailing energy conditions and oceanographic parameters. Frequency curves show unimodal to bimodal in nature. Offshore samples also fall in bimodal with medium and fine sand where sediment is additionally deposited by the Tamiraparani River. The mean values ranging from 1.69 to 2.01 φ with medium to fine sand. The fine sand in the riverine region indicates the depositional nature of the sediments. In pre-monsoon, the standard deviation ranges from 0.29 to 0.81 φ, which falls in the very well sorted to moderately well sorted. Estuary ranges from 0.63 to 1.30 φ, with moderately sorted, whereas in the marine sediments ranges from 0.4 to 1.01 φ, with moderately to moderately well- sorted and some patches of poorly sorted is observed. In both monsoons, the grain size variations are mostly influenced in river and offshore samples compared to the estuaries. The CM pattern indicates the deposition of sediments in graded suspension. In estuary, the sediments are medium sand with moderately to poorly sorted, fine skewed which are indicative of denudation processes taking place there. In marine, the sediments are medium-to-fine, moderately-to-well sorted, and fine skewed to very fine skewed sediments, probably as a result of the influence of palaeo-sediments deposited by rivers from inland as well as by waves and currents from offshore. Further, the marine samples also highlight depositional processes.     

Aerodynamic grain‐size distribution of blown sand

Aeolian sand entrainment, saltation and deposition are important and closely related near surface processes. Determining how grains are sorted by wind requires a detailed understanding of how aerodynamic sand transport processes vary within the saltating layer with height above the bed. Grain‐size distribution of sand throughout the saltation layer and, in particular, how the associated flux of different grain size changes with variation in wind velocity, remain unclear. In the present study, a blowdown wind tunnel with a 50 cm thick boundary layer was used to investigate saltating sand grains by analyzing the weight percentage and transport flux of different grain‐size fractions and the mean grain size at different wind velocities. It was found that mean grain size decreases with height above the sand bed before undergoing a reversal. The height of the reversal point ranges from 4 to 40 cm, and increases with wind velocity following a non‐linear relationship. The content of the finer fractions (very fine and fine sand) initially increases above the sand bed and then decreases slightly with height, whereas that of the coarser fractions (medium and coarse sand) exhibits the opposite trend. The content of coarser grains and the mean grain size of sand in the saltation layer increase with wind velocity, indicating erosional selectivity with respect to grains in multi‐sized sand beds; but this size selectivity decreases with increasing wind velocity. The vertical mass flux structure of fine sand and very fine sand does not obey a general exponential decay pattern under strong wind conditions; and the coarser the sand grain, the greater the decrease rate of their transport mass with height. The results of these experiments suggest that the grain‐size distribution of a saltating sand cloud is governed by both wind velocity and height within the near‐surface boundary layer.     

联用筛析法与激光法进行粒度接序分析的界点选择

筛析法、激光法和图像法是三种常用的粒度分析方法,但由于测试原理的不同,三种测试方法有不同的适用性。筛析法和图像法能够精确测量砂质颗粒的粒径,但不适用于泥质细颗粒（<0.063 mm）的粒径测量;相反,激光法无法准确测量中粗砂粒级颗粒（2~0.21 mm）,但能高精度测量较细沉积物粒径。分选较差的天然沉积物粒径分布范围较广,需要综合运用筛析法-激光法进行接序粒度测试。通常选用2 mm为界点开展接序粒度分析,但因激光法在测量中粗砂颗粒时误差较大,易导致接序粒度分析结果准确性不高。建议以0.21 mm为分界点开展接序粒度分析,分别避开筛析法和激光法测量精度不高的粒级区间,可使测试结果的准确性得到有效的提高。     

克里雅河沿线沙丘沉积物石英砂表面特征分析

对沙漠内部典型河流沿线沙丘石英颗粒表面微形态特征的系统研究尚少。沿塔里木盆地南缘克里雅河下游丹丹乌里克、喀拉墩、圆沙古城、北方墓地及其北部塔里木河一带的沙丘顶部采到5件表沙样品。扫描电镜观察172颗经能谱挑选的石英颗粒表面微形态,筛析法测定5件样品的粒度。结果表明:1）丹丹乌里克样品以极细沙为主,其余均以细沙为主,各样品几乎不含黏土;2）样品磨圆度特征以次棱和次圆状为主,圆状很少,未见棱状特征,次棱状与次圆状特征之间消长关系显著,沙漠南北边缘样品的次棱状特征出现频率较腹地高;3）颗粒中V形坑频率呈现出沙漠边缘较高腹地低的特征,而沙漠边缘的化学作用结构特征低于腹地。石英砂表面特征结构以机械作用为主,同时伴生化学环境作用特征,可认为克里雅河下游沙物质包括了河流、冰川与戈壁成因及风输送而来的颗粒;颗粒表面特征总体新鲜,沙丘应较年轻。纵穿塔克拉玛干沙漠沉积物样品的表面微形态观察与粒度测定,为该地区沉积环境分析与沙丘砂溯源研究增添了新数据。     

Settling behaviour related to sieve analysis of skeletal sands

One thousand grains selected from sieved samples of a bioclastic sand have been individually measured, weighed and timed in free unhindered fall at terminal velocity in a 250 cm column of sea water. Four fall regimes are represented: straight fall, spinning and spiral modes and erratic tumbling. As size increases grains pass through this series at rates dependent upon shape and effective density. Computed best-fit curves for velocities/intermediate diameter and an equivalent sphere/intermediate diameter illustrate considerable divergencies in behaviour between the eleven grain types and five shape classes examined. Current methods of analysis of carbonate sediments, by sieving, by grain-counting of components, and by sedimentation balance, provide different kinds of information which it is impractical to consider as having any simple relationship to each other.     

The hydraulic interpretation of turbidites from their grain sizes and sedimentary structures

Previous attempts to deduce the flow parameters of turbidity currents from their deposited sediments have focused on applications of criteria for the suspension or autosuspension of the grains and on hydrodynamic interpretations of the characteristic Bouma sequence of sedimentary structures. There has been a considerable diversity of opinion, however, as to how the transport criteria relate to the observed deposited grain-size distribution, and no attempt has been made to determine whether the separate analyses of deposited sediments and sedimentary structures agree as to the magnitudes of the evaluated flow parameters. Such analyses are performed on a turbidite from the Capistrano Formation (Miocene-Pliocene) of California. This turbidite is normally graded from medium sand at its base to very fine sand and silt at the top, and has the complete sequence of Bouma structures. Only a small degree of cementation has occurred so that samples from the layer could be disaggregated and grain sizes determined both by sieving and sedimentation balance analyses. It was decided to employ the grain-suspension criterion for the calculation of the flow conditions at the time of deposition, published experiments on the pipe-flow of suspensions having demonstrated that this criterion is one of deposition versus non-deposition of grains according to their settling velocities. The published work relating types of sedimentary structures to the sediment grain size and either the flow power or Shield's dimensionless stress is used to evaluate the flow parameters from the observed Bouma sequence. All methods employed yield estimates of the mean flow velocity and bed stress (force per unit bottom area). The evaluated flow parameters for the transition from a flat bed to ripples (Bouma B to C divisions) are nearly an order of magnitude greater than obtained from the grain-suspension criterion where the calculations are based on the median grain size of the deposited sediments. Agreement results only if the calculations utilizing the suspension criterion are based on nearly the coarsest grains deposited at any instant, a procedure that is difficult to justify with the expected sediment deposition from a waning current. Inclusion of other factors, such as possible lags in sediment deposition or ripple formation beneath the decelerating flow, provide no firm explanation as to the cause of the discrepancy between the results based on the two approaches, and in nearly all cases their inclusion would increase the difference. Something is amiss with our procedures for the hydraulic interpretation of sediments which can be resolved only by further study.     

别里库姆沙漠胡杨回涡沙丘表层沉积物粒度特征

胡杨回涡沙丘是别里库姆沙漠常见的一种风积地貌类型,通过测试分析来自6个样区胡杨回涡沙丘的195个表层沉积物样品,结合粒级-标准偏差法、Sahu成因判别和相关统计分析法,对其粒度特征进行研究,以分析别里库姆沙漠表层沉积物类型、沉积环境的稳定性。结果表明:(1)胡杨回涡沙丘表层沉积物粒度组成以砂和粉砂为主,从北向南、从东向西沉积物粒级均呈现变细趋势。(2)6个样区平均粒径的均值属于极细砂或细砂范围,71.79%的物质样品分选较好,97.94%的沉积物样品属于近对称分布,100%的物质样品属于中等峰态。(3)6个样区的粒级-标准偏差曲线均呈现多峰分布,沉积环境不稳定。(4)6个样区胡杨回涡沙丘表层沉积物的Sahu成因判别值介于-7.277~ -5.912,均属于风成沉积。     

Microstructures in carbonates from the Alnø and Fen carbonatites

The nature of carbonates and related second phase minerals in carbonatite samples from the Alnø and Fen regions has been studied by optical and transmission electron microscopy, aided by X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis.Calcite, dolomite and ankerite have been found to exhibit two phase microstructures. Coherent ribbons of calcitic material occur in dolomite and ankerite, while the calcite grains commonly contain a fine dispersion of plate-like and sometimes rod-like precipitates. Calcite and dolomite frequently occur in contact with the same crystallographic lattice orientation, the small lattice mismatch being indicated by moiré patterns at the grain boundaries and occasional misfit dislocations.The two-phase structure of calcite in dolomite reported for the first time in this paper is thought to be a high temperature analogue of the modulated microstructures reported recently in calcian sedimentary dolomites (Wenk et al. 1983).     

东太平洋水合物海岭BSR以上沉积物粒度变化与气体水合物分布

文中对国际大洋钻探204航次在太平洋水合物海岭8 个站位BSR深度以上气体水合物稳定带的沉积物进行了粒度分析和对比研究。结果表明,该稳定带内沉积物总体粒径变化特征为:粉砂质量分数在60%~75%之间,为气体水合物稳定带内沉积组分的主体组分。粘土质量分数一般小于35%,砂质量分数小于5%。该结果获得的粒径变化范围,与204 航次中沉积学研究所确定的粘土质粉砂、粉砂质粘土夹含砂质粉砂、含砂质粘土岩性特征一致。各站位沉积粒径变化和代表气体水合物存在的岩心红外照相IR异常低温记录之间的初步对比说明,气体水合物主要富集在沉积组分较粗,相当于粉砂或者砂级质量分数较高的粒度层。统计学的相关性研究结果定量地揭示了各个站位沉积物粒径变粗与气体水合物的存在有不同的相关关系。归纳起来发现,不同构造部位沉积物中气体水合物赋存层段的粒径范围不同。坡后盆地由于当地总体沉积物颗粒细,气体水合物赋存在极细粉砂粒级(8~26μm)的沉积物中。水合物海岭南峰顶部附近站位气体水合物主要赋存在粗粉砂和细砂(50~148μm)之间。     

泰国湾表层沉积物陆源碎屑的粒度特征及其展现的沉积动力环境

海洋碎屑沉积物的粒度特征是海底沉积动力环境的直接体现,是用来研究海洋动力环境变化的重要手段,尤其是陆架海底表层沉积物的粒度分布,对于研究沿岸和水柱底边界层现今海洋动力环境可起到重要作用。该项研究通过调查遍布泰国湾至湄公河口海底表层沉积物陆源碎屑的粒度分布特征,以期获得影响现今特定海域沉积作用的海洋动力环境过程。粒度分析的结果显示,泰国湾表层沉积物的陆源碎屑以细砂-细粉砂为主,分选总体较差,频率分布以正偏为主。其中,细砂-极细砂组分主要分布在曼谷湾和柬埔寨沿岸。湄公河岸外沉积物为细砂,且分选比泰国湾区域的沉积物要好。这些表层沉积物的粒度特征具有良好的环境变化指示作用。湄公河岸外分选较好、近于正态分布的中砂沉积物指示了波浪作用下的沉积环境。曼谷湾和柬埔寨沿岸分选较差的中砂-细砂粗粒沉积物反映了潮汐和波浪的共同作用;泰国湾东西沿岸区域分选中等、呈正偏态的极细砂-中粉砂沉积物体现了潮汐的控制作用;而泰国湾中部分选较差的沉积物则指示了表层洋流作用。研究表明,泰国湾和湄公河岸外表层沉积物陆源碎屑的粒度分布特征可用于区分不同海洋动力因素的控制作用,揭示出泰国湾的沉积动力环境主要受潮汐、波浪和洋流的共同影响,湄公河岸外的沉积动力环境主要受波浪的影响。     

陕北晋西砂黄土的胶结物与胶结作用研究

在野外调查的基础上,采用SEM、XRD、土壤物理和土壤化学等方法,对陕北晋西12个县市的48个马兰黄土样品进 行了全分散法粒度组成测定、聚集体分析以及黄土胶结物组成的测试分析。结果表明,砂黄土中的粘土矿物和超细碳酸盐、 游离氧化物和有机质等胶结物质主要是以聚集体包膜的形式存在于碎屑颗粒表面,并构成砂黄土骨架间的结构联结,具有弱 胶结特性。砂黄土中粘土矿物和有机质为非水稳性胶结物质,仅在干燥状态具有较弱的胶结作用;黄土中的CaCO3呈粗颗粒 骨架和细分散超细碳酸钙两种形式存在,并分别起着骨架作用和胶结作用,超细碳酸钙为不可逆的胶结材料,在聚集体形成、 保存以及聚集体与碎屑颗粒之间的联结方面发挥着重要作用;非晶质游离氧化物(SiO2、Fe2O3、Al2O3)含量虽低,但由于他们 是以薄膜形式分布在颗粒表面,在黄土胶结作用中也是不可忽视的,并与上述各种胶结物共同起作用。通过统计分析认为, 凝聚系数可以较好地反映黄土的胶结程度,成为联系黄土胶结特性与黄土物理力学性质之间的桥梁。黄土胶结物组成及其 胶结机理的研究不仅有助于深化砂黄土工程特性的认识,而且对揭示黄土高原表生地球化学环境具有重要意义。     

Nature, origin and age of Holocene aeolian sand on Muckish Mountain, Co. Donegal, Ireland

Dissected sand sheets and flow-aligned sand shadows occur near the summit of Muckish Mountain, Co. Donegal. The sand is of medium to fine size and moderately sorted to moderately well sorted. Sand transport by northerly winds is indicated by the location and morphology of the deposits. The source of the sand is a series of friable quartzite beds immediately below the northern edge of the summit plateau. Minor additions of gravel and very coarse sand, derived from the disintegration of plateau clasts, were probably also incorporated within the deposits by aeolian action, although surface wash associated with heavy rain or snowmelt may have mobilized these particles. The absence of diagnostic aeolian transport textures on quartz grain surfaces reflects the short distance/duration of transport. ¹⁴C dates indicate two phases of sand sheet accumulation: one between c. 5,300 ande. 2,650 B.P. and again after c. 1,910–1,760B.P. The sand shadows have formed within the last hundred years in response to the construction of small cairns across the plateau. Sand sheet dissection suggests erosion is currently occurring, but this began prior to the late nineteenth century. Present-day sand accumulation is also apparent from the widespread scatter of grains trapped by surface Vegetation. The sand represents the first recognition of aeolian deposition in the uplands of Ireland.     

Hydraulic characteristics of the Maastrichtian sedimentary rocks of the southeastern Bida Basin, central Nigeria

A set of outcrop samples from the Lokoja and Patti Formations of the southern Bida Basin (Nigeria) was examined for grain size distribution, sedimentary and hydraulic characteristics. Most of the samples are well-sorted with an uniformity coefficient (U) ranging between 1.3 and 6.3. The mean effective grain diameter (d₁₀) is in the order of 0.11 mm, the mean value of d₉₀ was determined as 0.66 mm (both geometric mean) and the median grain size (d₅₀) as 0.23 mm. Based on these values, the sedimentary sequence can be described as ‘fine to medium sized sand’, having minor amounts of either silt, or coarse sand and some gravel. The total porosity of the samples was determined by laboratory methods to be in the range of 9–29%. The hydraulic conductivity (K) was determined according to Hazen.and Beyer, and by Shepherd's formula, the last resulting in a geometric mean of 3.3 m d⁻¹ or 3.3 darcy. The results are used to estimate local groundwater potential. The entire pore space (potential groundwater reservoir) for the area under study is estimated to be in the order of 290–430 km³. Because of higher hydraulic conductivities, it is recommended that the Lokoja Formation is concentrated on as a target for groundwater exploration.     

花海湖泊古风成砂的粒度特征及其环境意义

通过野外调查和室内分析,发现在花海剖面全新世出现了三次特有的风成砂,并对其原因进行了初步的分析。前两次风沙形成期分别与第一、第二新冰期相对应,而且分析表明第一风沙形成期的冬季风强度要比全新世其它时期强,持续时间长。这为研究本区土地退化、荒漠化等问题提供了自然背景,特别是对西部大开发战略重点之一的生态环境保护与建设具有特殊的意义     

沉积学粒度分析方法综述

文章回顾了粒度分析的历史,总结了常用的粒径类型,介绍了粒度标准和目前沉积学中常用的5种粒度分析方法,并对其中的沉降法、场干扰分析法、图像法作了详细的分类说明。此外,对每一种粒度分析方法的适用范围、测定原理以及其存在的优缺点也进行了详细的介绍。其中：直接测量法简单易行,但精度较差;筛析法较为普遍,但只限于松散或弱胶结沉积物,且不能反映颗粒形状;沉降法适用于松散样、弱胶结样和液体样的分析,可对细砂、粉砂或泥等细粒沉积物进行测量;场干扰法主要依据碎屑颗粒的衍射、散射及电压脉冲响应进行,固体样和液体样均可,精度高,适用性广;图像法手段多样,简单直观,操作性强。总体上,未来的几十年内,粒度分析方法仍将是新旧技术并存,多种方法共用的状况。     

中国北方风沙沉积物气候代用指标对比研究

在浑善达克沙地和巴丹吉林沙漠各选择近NS走向的大断面采集表层样品,用筛析法对样品进行粒度分析,用Eijkelkamp碳酸钙测定仪测定其碳酸钙含量。两地沙质沉积物的粒度参数对比结果显示,巴丹吉林沙漠沙总体上比浑善达克沙地沙粗,分选性比浑善达克沙地沙好,同时在粒度分布频率曲线上表现出明显的双峰,这应与其地处冬夏季风交替地带、冬季风和夏季风搬运营力上的差别有关。巴丹吉林沙漠和浑善达克沙地沙质沉积物粒度参数上的差别反映了两地不同的风动力条件和下垫面性质。浑善达克沙地的沙粒较细在一定程度上也与该地区较湿润条件下的成土作用有关。气候差异应是导致两地沙质沉积物粒度参数区别的主导因素。碳酸钙测量结果说明,浑善达克沙地的碳酸钙含量明显低于巴丹吉林沙漠。巴丹吉林沙漠沙的碳酸钙含量从北往南呈增加趋势,与该地区年降水量的南北方向变化相一致。从对这两个地区沙质沉积物的碳酸钙含量对比中可以看出,即使在干旱背景下,当多年平均降雨量达到一定临界值时,地表碳酸钙含量将达到一最大值,随后则呈降低趋势     

细粒对砂土持水能力影响的试验研究

利用压力板仪,进行了不同细粒含量非饱和砂土的持水特征试验,分析砂土土-水特征曲线的特征,探讨细粒对砂土持水能力的影响。结果表明,细粒的增加提高了砂土的持水能力,不同吸力阶段细粒对持水能力的影响程度不同;基质吸力超过进气值后,细粒增加明显增强砂土持水能力。应用数学模型 描述不同细粒含量砂土的土-水特征曲线,分析了细粒含量对数学模型参数的影响,给出了细粒、基质吸力和含水率的函数关系为 。     

Particle size distribution analysis of sand-sized particles by laser diffraction: an experimental investigation of instrument sensitivity and the effects of particle shape

Laser diffraction is now widely used for particle size distribution analysis of sediments and soils. The technique can be very precise, and offers advantages of speed and cost over many other methods when used to analyse mixtures of sand, silt and clay. This study presents the results of an experimental investigation that examined the sensitivity of the Beckman-Coulter LS230 instrument to mixtures of different grain populations and differences in particle shape. The instrument was found to have high sensitivity to coarse particles in a finer matrix (detection threshold 1–2%), but much lower sensitivity to finer particles in a coarser mixture (detection threshold 12–17%). Experiments using near-spherical ballotini showed that laser analysis provides very similar values to dry sieving for the mean, median and mode, but for a range of natural sand samples values for the mean, median and mode were offset by 8–21%, with an average of ca 15%, compared with sieving. Analysis using a Beckman-Coulter RapidVUE instrument, which provides both size and shape information, provided support for the hypothesis that the differences between laser analysis and sieving are partly attributable to the effects of particle shape. However, an additional factor is the way in which the laser software interprets the optical diffraction data. The software predicts a high degree of log-normality in the size distribution, such that highly skewed, truncated or bimodal samples are poorly represented. Experiments using sieved fractions of ballotini indicated that, even with near-perfectly spherical particles, the particle size distribution predicted by the laser software includes a relatively large percentage of particles outside the sieve class limits.     

Landward fining from multiple sources in a sand sheet deposited by the 1929 Grand Banks tsunami, Newfoundland

A sandy deposit from the 1929 Grand Banks tsunami in Newfoundland contains sediment from two distinct sources, one from an inferred gravel shoreline close to the deposit, and one from a sandy dune some 200 m seaward of the deposit. The deposit ranges from 0 to 15 cm thick, and is composed of a bimodal mix of fine and coarse sand. We took approximately 100 core samples of this deposit in an attempt to characterize lateral grain size trends within the sand. Although the coarse fraction does fine with distance inland, the fine fraction does not change size over the study area, and the aggregate grain size changes in no systematic way.

We interpret this deposit to represent the mixture of material picked up at the bar with material picked up at the gravel shoreline. The bar material does not fine in part because it is already fairly well sorted, but also because it is far from its source. The shoreline material, on the other hand, is poorly sorted so that the tsunami took only those grains it was capable of moving, and deposited them near their source.

We estimated the size of the tsunami by determining the flow depth-flow velocity combinations required to advect sand from the bar to the back of the deposit, and by estimating the shear velocity required for motion of the largest grain we found during our survey. This modeling indicates an average flow depth of about 2.5–2.8 m over the area, at a flow velocity of 1.9–2.2 m/s. This estimate compares well with eyewitness accounts of a maximum flow depth of 7 m at the shoreline if our estimate represents an average over the whole study area.     

An experimental study of multiple grain-size ejecta produced by collisions of saltating grains with a flat bed

Collision data are presented from coloured high-speed films of three size fractions of sand grains saltating over a bed of the total grain population. Each fraction was colour tagged and the proportion of each size ejected by grains colliding with the surface was recorded on a number of films taken as the bed was progressively eroded. The results confirm earlier findings that V₃/V₁?0.5–0.6, V_n/V₁?.08 and the rebound angle increases with decreasing grain size. Ejected grains are examined in relation to their size, the impactor size, ejection speed and angle and the number of ejecta per collision. In addition, changes in grain parameters are observed with time. For fine impactors, ejection speeds generally increase with a decrease in ejecta size, but the fine fraction does not follow this trend for the coarse and medium impactors. Ejection angles are typically between 40° and 60°, with coarse grains having shallower mean angles than fine ejecta. The number of ejections per collision increases with a decrease in particle size for each impactor size. The general tendency for coarse particles to be ejected at lower speeds and shallower angles than fine particles will lead to sorting of the grain sizes. There is poor correlation between the forward momentum loss of the saltating grams at collision and both the forward momentum of the ejected grains and the number of ejected grains. Much of the forward momentum of the saltating grains is transfered to creeping grains. The composition and geometry of the bed are considered to be important factors in the evolution of the saltation cloud.