| Abstract Submission No. | ABS-1.1-0101 |
| Title of Abstract | Magnetic Fingerprinting of Sediment Source-To-Sink Processes in a Tropical Estuarine System |
| Authors | Firoz Badesab*, Nitin Kadam, Prashila Pednekar, Shazia Shaheen, Sriram Gullapall, Omkar Sagavekar |
| Organisation | CSIR - National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula,Goa, India |
| Address | CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography Dona Paula, Goa, India Pincode: 403004 E-mail: firoz2u2002@gmail.com |
| Country | India |
| Presentation | Oral |
| Abstract | Magnetic minerals are ubiquitous in fluvial, estuarine, coastal and shelf systems and potential recorders of geological, climatic and sedimentary processes. This study focusses on tracing of source-to-sink processes in a complex tropical estuarine system of Goa, west coast of India using environmental magnetism and sedimentological methods. Comparison of magnetic properties of source rocks, soils, fluvial, estuarine, and marine sediments in an estuarine system indicate large variability in properties of magnetic minerals (content, grain size, mineralogy), clastic sediment grain size and their distribution pattern. Bulk magnetism is mainly dominated by ferri-and antiferromagnetic minerals of detrital origin. Distribution maps of magnetic minerals (interms of magnetic mineral content, coercivity, grain size) and clastic grain size in different sub-environment of the estuary helped to identify the magnetite-rich zones and to understand the sediment transport system. We noticed that active magnetite enrichment takes place in tidal channel network of the estuarine system, which further feeds the magnetic particles into the nearshore and marine region. A systematic trend of loss of clastic sediment grain size coupled with progressive fining of magnetic crystal size in estuarine surficial sediments through source-to-sink can be reconciled with the underlying hydro-and sediment dynamics which constrained the overall sediment transport. Our approach of integrating magnetic and clastic grain-size data can be successfully developed to establish a conceptual model of hydro-and-sediment dynamics for tropical estuarine system. |
| Keywords | Tropical Estuaries, Magnetic Minerals, Environmental Magnetism, Source-to-Sink Processes |