JOURNAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA Vol.73, May 2009, pp.

609-620

Granulometric Analysis of Glacial Sediments, Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica

ASHOK K. SRIVASTAVA1 and NELOY KHARE2
1

Department of Geology, SGB Amravati University, Amravati - 444 602 2 Ministry of Earth Sciences, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110 003 Email: Ashokamt2000@hotmail.com

Abstract: Granulometric analysis of nineteen sediment samples has been carried out for their statistical and textural parameters. The samples are collected from the northern and southern margins of Schirmacher Oasis extending below the polar ice sheet and grading to coastal area respectively and main rocky land of Schirmacher including lakes. The analysis shows that most of the sediments are of medium grain size and fall in poor to very poor sorted category. An attempt has been made to interpret the depositional set-up by plotting the scatter patterns between various textural parameters, including C-M plot and arithmetic log-probability curves. The influence of physical parameters viz. low to high velocity winds, ice and meltwater on sediment characteristics has been discussed. Keywords: Granulometric analysis, Glacial sediments, Textural parameters, Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica.

INTRODUCTION

The Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica is a small icefree area in a perennially glaciated region of East Antarctica. The Oasis is largely a metamorphic terrain. However, there are ample exposures of loose sediments on the Oasis particularly at (i) lake sites, (ii) sediment accumulations due to melt water channels and wind on the main rocky land (iii) along the southern margin due to melting of polar ice sheet and (iv) along the northern margin grading to shelf region showing coastal sediments. Despite the small size of the Oasis, it provides a good scope to collect the sediments, accumulated due to working of one or more geological agents. The sediments lying just below the scarp-face of polar-ice-sheet in the south are mainly accumulated due to unwelding and melting of polar-ice and their dropping down on ground forming small debris of loose sediments. Similarly, the northern margin grades to the shelf area of Antarctic Ocean. Besides the coastal sediments, the region also gets sediments from the entire Oasis through melt-water channels. The main rocky land exhibits small accumulations of sediments due to melt-water channels and wind apart from numerous glacial lakes with loose admixture of sediments. The transportation and deposition of sediments are mainly governed by the activities of meltwater channels, wind and ice. The Oasis is under detailed investigation by Indian

scientists as a part of the national programme of the Government of India, involving scientific expeditions to Antarctica. Various geological aspects, so far explored are general geology (Singh, 1986; Sengupta, 1996); sedimentology (Lal, 1986; Asthana and Chaturvedi, 1998); hard rock petrography (Kumar, 1986; Jayapaul et al. 2005); magnetic characteristic of the region (Gupta and Verma, 1986); pollen-spores (Sharma et al. 2002; Bera, 2004); Arcellaceans (Mathur et al. 2006); lichens (Nayaka and Upreti, 2005); fungal biodiversity (Singh et al. 2006); diatom flora (Palanisamy, 2007); ecological assessment of fresh water lake (Ingole and Dhargalkar, 1998); bedrock topography and subsurface structure (Sundararajan and Rao, 2005); structural and thermal studies of graphite (Parthasarathy et al. 2003); Holocene climatic changes (Sharma et al. 2007) etc. The process and episodes of metamorphic rock formation including lamprophyres have been carried out by Hoch and Tobschall (1988), Hoch (1999) and Hoch et al. (2001). A brief idea of textural parameters of sediments, based on limited number of samples has been provided by Lal (1986) and Asthana and Chaturvedi (1998). Khun et al. (1993) tried to correlate the clast characteristic with transport and depositional process. However, a detailed textural analysis is still lacking. In the present study, various graphical and statistical measures of the sediments belonging to entire

0016-7622/2009-73-5-609/$ 1.00 GEOL. SOC. INDIA

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Schirmacher area have been carried out viz. graphic mean, median, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis etc. The bivariate plots between various parameters have also been constructed to interpret the sediment characteristic and establish its relation with the depositional set-up.
GEOLOGY OF THE AREA

SAMPLING SITES AND TECHNIQUE

The Schirmacher Oasis (Lat. 70o44'30" S to 70o46'30" S and Long. 11o22'40" E to 11o54'00" E) is a narrow eastwest trending ridge represented by Precambrian highgrade metamorphic suite of rocks (Sengupta, 1986). It covers an area of about 35 sq km having maximum width of about 2.7 km in the central part. Low elevation hills up to 200 m altitude and depressions formed due to glacial valleys and lakes characterize the undulating topography. Six dominant metamorphic zones have been reported from the area, viz. (i) banded gneiss, (ii) alaskite, (iii) garnetbiotite gneiss, (iv) calc-gneiss, khondalites and associated migmatites, (v) augen gneiss and (vi) streaky gneiss intruded by dykes of basalt, lamprophyres, pegmatite, dolerite and apatite (Sengupta, 1986) (Fig. 1). The main land of Schirmacher shows undulating topography because of a number of lakes, rocky exposures, glaciated valleys and plains. Its southern margin is covered by polar ice-sheet, which shows entrapment of abundant sand and silt-size sediments. The northern boundary of the main land shows a general steepness and coincides with E-W trending coastal area of outer shelf. The shelf is also covered by the ice, however, sediment surfaces are exposed at a few places (Fig.2).

A total of nineteen samples have been collected from the entire area, out of which five samples belong to extreme southern margin of the main land including polar ice (P-1 to P-5), four samples each from lake (L-1 to L-4) and main rocky land (M-1 to M-4) whereas, six samples belongs to the coastal sediments of the outer shelf (S-1 to S-6). The samples from the southern margin adjacent to polar ice-sheet are collected from the margin, surface and base of the scarp-face exposed south of Indian station viz. Maitri. The main rocky land sediments are mostly from sand debris/pockets exposed in the area. The lake sediments are from the peripheral areas of Priyadarshini and other lakes, whereas, the samples from southern margin are mostly from outer coast area. The samples are mostly collected from the surface exposures after digging the ground for 6-8 cm. The details of the sample locations are as follows: P-1: Base of polar ice-sheet scarp-face. P-2: From the same area as P-1 but at height of three meters above P-1. P-3: From the base of polar ice-sheet, southwest of Maitri. P-4: From the frozen melt-water channel at the top of the polar-ice sheet near Shivling, lying at three km southwest of Maitri. P-5: From the ice-sheets lying at the base near scarp margin at three different locations roughly 500 m apart, south of Maitri.

Fig.1. Geological map of Schirmacher Oasis (after Sengupta, 1986).

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Fig.2. Photograph showing (A) polar ice-sheet exposed south of Maitri, (B) main land including Priyadarshini lake and (C) shelf exposed in the north of Maitri.
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L-1: From the margin of lake located at about two km east of Maitri, on the route to Russian station viz. Novalazarevskay. L-2 & L-3: From the margin of Priyadarshini lake near Maitri. L-4: From the margin of epishelf lake located in the extreme north. M-1: From 400 m south of Maitri. M-2 & M-4: Two different sites lying about four km northeast of Maitri. M-3: From the sand pocket accumulation site near Maitri at an elevation of two meters. S-1 & S-2: Shelf approachable three km east of Maitri. S-3 & S-4: About four km southeast of Maitri. S-5 & S-6: From various locations of western margin of the shelf, about ten km northwest of Maitri.
METHODOLOGY

is presented by bar diagram i.e. histogram as proposed by McBride (1971). The comparative study of the histograms i.e. weight percentage frequency curves of all the samples broadly show higher concentrations of medium sand-size fragments. A few samples from southern margin and lakes have comparatively more coarse sediments. The weight percentage data is cumulated and plotted on vertical arithmetic ordinate ranging from 1-100 whereas, phi () values ranging from 1.25 to 4.25 . The comparative study of the cumulative curves show poor sorting of grains, as the curves show a general tendency of horizontal closeness (Fig.3).
Statistical Parameters

Statistical parameters viz. graphic median, graphic mean, graphic standard deviation, graphic skewness and graphic kurtosis are determined on the basis of data obtained from the cumulative frequency curves. The formulae used for the calculations of various parameters are as follows: Graphic Median = 50 Graphic Mean (MZ) = 16 + 50 + 84 / 3 Graphic Standard = 84 16 / 4 + 95 5 / 6.6 Deviation (1) Graphic Skewness (Sk1)= 84 + 16 2 50 / ( 84 - 16) + 95 + 5 2 50 / ( 95 2 5) Graphic Kurtosis (KG) = 95 5 / 2.44 ( 75 2 25)
Inclusive Graphic Median (50)

The sieving technique adopted for the analysis of grain size is as proposed by Ingram (1971). The samples for sieving are prepared by removing the carbonate matter by treating it with 10% dil. HCl and washing it with distilled water. The same sample was again treated by 6% hydrogen peroxide followed by washing with distilled water to remove the organic matter. Hundred grams of completely washed and dried sediments was subjected for sieve analysis. The sieves were arranged on quarter phi () intervals in order of 8 mesh (-1.25 ), 12 mesh (-0.75 ), 16 mesh (-0.25 ), 22 mesh (0.35 ), 30 mesh (0.75 ), 44 mesh (1.50 ), 66 mesh (2.00 ), 85 mesh (2.60 ), 120 mesh (3.0 ), 170 mesh (3.50 ), 240 mesh (4.10 ), and lastly pan for the sediments below 240 mesh (4.25 ) and shake for thirty minutes. The fraction retained on each sieve and pan were weighed, i.e. weight percentage frequency data. With the help of weight percentage data, cumulative weight percentage was calculated (Table 1). The graphical representations in the form of cumulative curves and histograms were made and further used for various statistical representations and computation of graphic measures as proposed by Pettijohn et al. (1987); Folk (1980); Reinick and Singh (1980); Lindholmn (1987); Sengupta (1996) (Table 2).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Frequency Curves

The graphic median denotes the half of the particles (by weight) are coarser and half are fine in size at a particular value i.e. 50 . The values obtained, range from 1.02 to 2.64 , averaging 1.76 , which indicate a general dominance of medium to fine sediments. However, the samples from main land i.e., M-1, M-3, M-4 and S-4 from northern margin distinctly shows high values. The higher values are because of dominance of a single size-class in the sediment admixture e.g. M-3 and M-4 showing higher percentage of coarser sediments whereas, M-1 and S-4 have higher percentage of medium to fine sand-size sediments.
Graphic Mean Size (MZ)

The fractions of 100 g samples retained on each sieve

The graphic mean value depicts the average particle size or a measure of central tendency. The values obtained for graphic mean range from 0.89 to 2.42 , with an average value of 1.47 . The average value shows the dominance of medium sand-size sediments. Similar to graphic median, certain values from samples of mainland and northern margin are quite high which is because of the dominance of a particular mode of class of sediments i.e.
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GRANULOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF GLACIAL SEDIMENTS, SCHIRMACHER OASIS, EAST ANTARCTICA Table 1. Cumulative weight percent frequency of the sediment samples from different area Grain size / Sample No. P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 L-1 L-2 L-3 L-4 M-1 M-2 M-3 M-4 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6 -1.25 11.31 8.82 9.40 0.18 23.11 8.58 16.89 19.95 8.26 0.20 14.83 6.65 7.36 7.10 0.57 16.46 1.93 12.95 7.98 -0.75 20.01 16.36 17.99 0.95 30.27 19.52 24.25 26.57 14.6 0.5 23.25 9.34 14.21 12.31 1.54 22.5 3.14 17.66 19.23 -0.25 22.76 20.65 22.16 2.21 32.18 25.24 27.03 28.85 17.87 1.44 27.07 10.29 16.93 14.92 2.02 24.64 3.67 27.97 22.42 0.35 24.55 24.3 24.89 4.69 34.14 28.88 29.08 30.46 20.56 2.41 30.19 11.02 18.60 16.72 2.54 25.77 4.04 38.63 24.71 0.75 34.35 38.93 36.52 12.34 42.35 42.64 37.46 37.80 35.05 11.88 46.05 16.49 24.44 28.36 8.89 32.92 6.45 46.21 39.22 1.50 42.92 51.86 46.26 25.21 47.83 51.35 44.14 43.99 46.42 24.4 58.67 24.71 29.01 40.18 23.46 40.13 11.53 52.33 51.47 2.00 62.75 75.06 63.79 53.75 59.06 67.18 57.11 58.16 66.57 34.92 74.18 46.04 40.74 63.96 61.74 60.22 34.23 63.75 73.71 2.60 70.69 82.8 69.76 65.4 68.07 73.13 62.85 64.92 73.89 59.54 79.72 56.05 47.03 72.55 74.31 69.25 48.86 71.45 81.07 3.00 87.07 94.69 83.21 89.14 87.22 86.96 77.73 81.20 88.66 78.85 89.5 79.72 70.08 89.79 93.7 89.39 83.58 88.45 92.5 3.50 93.79 97.42 89.96 95.94 96.98 93.33 89.45 92.20 95.76 87.55 95.18 90.56 85.64 95.72 98.09 95.52 94.07 96.78 96.56 4.10 94.45 97.71 92.14 96.57 98.06 94.93 94.26 95.79 96.07 87.76 96.38 93.68 90.87 96.38 98.2 96.55 96.37 97.57 97.04 4.25 99.28 98.43 98.3 98.55 99.28 98.77 98.85 98.98 99.44 98.64 98.77 98.63 99.68 99.25 99.17 99.8 98.93 98.48 98.74

613

Table 2. Graphic measures from the grain size analysis of the sediment samples from different areas Stat. Paramet./ 95 Sample No. P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 L-1 L-2 L-3 L-4 M-1 M-2 M-3 M-4 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6 4.41 4.45 4.37 4.32 3.41 4.25 4.20 4.02 3.41 4.39 3.74 4.23 4.28 4.22 3.09 3.76 3.71 3.35 3.14 84 2.98 2.76 3.15 2.95 2.95 2.94 3.29 3.15 2.85 3.38 2.81 3.20 3.44 2.92 2.77 2.87 3.05 2.86 2.66 75 2.74 2.26 2.81 2.81 2.76 2.71 2.93 2.84 2.59 3.10 2.20 2.93 3.16 2.70 2.56 2.69 2.90 2.68 2.00 50 1.69 1.51 1.62 1.97 1.60 1.49 1.73 1.72 1.58 2.46 1.03 2.22 2.64 1.73 1.85 1.72 2.62 1.02 1.33 25 0.36 0.45 0.38 1.52 -1.14 -0.23 -0.66 -0.87 0.48 2.02 -0.49 1.51 0.75 0.66 1.51 -0.32 1.82 -0.47 0.26 16 -0.94 -0.77 -0.89 1.06 -1.77 -0.89 -1.31 -1.53 -0.58 1.06 -1.17 0.70 0.47 0.19 1.09 -1.26 1.61 -0.97 -0.91 5 -1.53 -1.40 -1.44 0.47 -2.55 -1.43 -2.07 -2.40 -1.45 0.49 -1.72 -1.68 -1.38 -1.42 0.47 -2.14 0.54 -1.97 -1.37 1 36.5 40.4 38.8 14.7 44.0 44.0 40.4 40.1 39.5 15.0 49.4 19.7 25.9 32.0 14.3 36.3 7.5 49.4 60.8 C in M in Micron Micron 3600 3400 3350 1450 6950 2950 4950 6500 3600 2250 4000 5100 3300 3600 2450 3200 3250 3820 0390 310 350 320 260 330 360 295 300 340 185 480 215 160 295 280 300 165 490 395 MZ 1.24 1.17 1.29 1.99 0.98 1.18 1.23 1.11 1.28 2.3 0.89 2.07 2.18 1.61 1.90 1.11 2.42 0.97 1.02 s1 1.88 1.78 1.81 1.00 2.08 1.81 2.19 2.04 1.50 1.17 2.25 1.52 1.59 1.53 0.81 1.91 0.84 1.75 1.57 Sk1 +0.21 -0.14 +0.14 +0.12 +0.40 +0.13 +0.26 +0.33 +0.25 +0.10 +0.10 +0.25 +0.37 +0.07 +0.04 +0.37 -0.15 +0.08 +0.22 KG 1.10 1.32 0.98 1.22 0.62 0.73 0.71 0.70 0.94 1.48 0.83 1.70 0.96 1.13 1.03 2.02 1.20 0.69 1.05

M-1, M-3, M-4 and S-4. Similarly, a few individual values i.e. P-5, M-, S-5 and S-6 showing low values are because of almost equal percentage of coarse to fine sediments (Fig.4A). The variability of grain size makes it poorly to very poorly sorted admixture.
Inclusive Graphic Standard Deviation (1)

The graphic standard deviation measures the sorting or uniformity of particle size distribution. The calculated
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values range from 0.81 to 2.25 , which denotes an admixture of moderately sorted to very poorly sorted sediments. However, most of the values range between 1.0 to 2.0 , which is a range of poorly sorted category (Fig.4B). Some of the moderately sorted samples i.e. S-2 and S-4 from northern margin belong to clean sandy beaches having less quantity of clasts from surrounding area. A few samples showing higher values of more than 2.00 i.e. P-5; L-2, L-3 and M-2 are from southern margin, lake and

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120 100 80 60 40 20 0 -1.25 -0.75 -0.25 0.35 0.75 1.5 2 2.6 3 3.5 4.1 4.25

P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 L-1 L-2 L-3 L-4 M-1 M-2 M-3 M-4 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6

Cumulative weight %

Phi value
Fig.3. Cumulative curves showing trend of all the samples.

main rocky land respectively and show very poor sorting due to accumulation of sediments of various size-classes.
Inclusive Graphic Skewness (Sk1)

The graphic skewness is the measure of symmetrical distribution, i.e. predominance of coarse or fine sediments. The positive value on the symmetrical curve shows excess fine material, whereas, excess coarse material is represented by positive values. The symmetrical curve denotes zero value. The bar diagram (Fig.4C) clearly indicates that the entire area is dominated by fine-skewed to near-symmetrical sediments (12 samples). Four samples viz. P-5, L-3, M-4 and S-3 have little higher values because of more coarse material and bimodal nature of admixture. Similarly, the sample P-2 and S-4 has comparatively more fine material.
Inclusive Graphic Kurtosis (KG)

which is a platykurtic condition. The main land and shelf area sediments range from 0.83 to 1.70 and 0.69 to 2.02 averaging 1.23 and 1.18 respectively. Both the average values denote leptokurtic condition showing poor sorting both in coarse and fine-grained sediments. In general, the sediments show an average value of 1.07 i.e. mesokurtic condition denoting equal sorting in tails as well as in peak. However, the sorting as such is moderate to very poor (1 0.81 to 2.25 ).
BIVARIATE PLOTS

The graphic kurtosis relates the peakedness of the distribution and measures the ratio between the sorting in the tails as well as in the central portion of the curve. If the central portion shows better sorting than the tails, then curve is termed leptokurtic; whereas, platykurtic, if the tails are better sorted and if both are equally sorted, then it is known as mesokurtic. The values obtained from sediments of southern margin range from 0.62 to 1.32 with an average value of 1.05 i.e. mesokurtic condition (Fig.4D). The lake sediments ranges from 0.70 to 0.94 averaging 0.77 ,

The bivariate plot of mean vs. standard deviation clearly indicates a poorly to very poorly sorted nature of average medium size sediments (Fig.5A). However, two samples belonging to northern margin of the Oasis represented by coastal sand are moderately sorted with the values of 0.81 and 0.84 . It is because of localized action of meltwater flow, resulting in deposition of selected grain size sediments as per the energy condition of the medium. A faint tendency of degradation in sorting is visible with increase in mean size of the grains. The variation of sorting index in predominantly poorly sorted glacial sediments is because of the differences in depositional environment as revealed by extremely poorly sorted glacio-fluvial sediments of Mount Feather and very poorly sorted subglacial diamicton sediments of Table Mountain, Dry Valleys, Antarctica (Goff et al. 2002; Dickinson and Bleakley, 2005).
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A
3
Standard deviation

B
2.5
VERY POORLY SORTED

2.5
Mean value

FINE SAND

2 1.5 1 0.5 0
P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 L-1 L-2 L-3 L-4 M-1 M-2 M-3 M-4 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6

2 1.5 1 0.5 0
P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 L-1 L-2 L-3 L-4 M-1 M-2 M-3 M-4 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6

MEDIUM SAND

POORLY SORTED

MODERATELY SORTED MODERATELY WELL SORTED WELL SORTED VERY WELL SORTED

COARSE SAND

Sample number

Sample number

C
2.5
0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2

D
2

VERY FINE-SKEWED
Kurtosis

VERY LEPTOKURTIC
1.5 1 0.5 0
P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 L-1 L-2 L-3 L-4 M-1 M-2 M-3 M-4 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6

Skewness

FINE-SKEWED NEAR-SYMMETRICAL
L-2 L-3

LEPTOKURTIC MESOKURTIC PLATYKURTIC VERY PLATYKURTIC

P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 L-1

L-4 M-1 M-2 M-3 M-4 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6

COARSE-SKEWED
Sample number

Sample number

Fig.4. Bar diagram representing comparative values of all the sediments. (A) graphic mean, (B) graphic standard deviation, (C) graphic skewness and (D) graphic kurtosis.

The bivariate scatter of mean size vs. skewness (Fig. 5B) show maximum clustering of grains in fine-skewed category followed by very fine-skewed category near the average mean size value of 1.00 . The mean vs. kurtosis plot indicates a very weak relationship. Most of the medium sand-size sediments are platykurtic to mesokurtic, which roughly tends towards leptokurtic with a decrease in grain size (Fig.5C). The plot between standard deviation vs. skewness (Fig.5D) and standard deviation vs. kurtosis (Fig.5E) also exhibit the dominance of poorly to very poorly sorted sediments and gradational decrease in number of samples in platykurtic to mesokurtic followed by leptokurtic to very leptokurtic categories respectively (Asthana and Chaturvedi, 1998). The variation in sorting at local scale in a limited area is well reported from Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica due to winnowing of fine grained lighter and platy minerals by melt water causing local textural variations (Gore et al. 2003). The plot of skewness vs. kurtosis (Fig.5F) shows a wide range of platykurtic, mesokurtic and
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leptokurtic sediments, however, dominantly restricted in near-symmetrical to fine-skewed category. The established plot between kurtosis and skewness (Folk and Ward, 1957) differentiates the model ratios of gravel sand, pure sand and silt of different environments. However, the particular plot is never considered as a very effective parameter in differentiating environments (Folk and Ward, 1957; Friedman, 1961, 1967; Moiola and Weiser, 1968). Khun et al. (1993) interpreted the transport mechanism and depositional process on basis of clast samples collected from Dronning Maud Land and onshore area of Schirmacher Oasis and concluded that fracturing, crushing, erosion of bed rock, basal sliding and abrasion, invariably play an important role in changing the shape of grains. However, the conclusion is based on the study of sediments coarser than gravel, viz. clast, but the change in textural parameters of other sediments than the clast cannot be ruled out. Hence, it can be interpreted that the textural variability of the present sediments is cumulative result of wind, water and glacial actions.

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A
Standard Deviation

B
0.6V. FINE-SKEWED
Skewness

3 2 0

V. POORLY SORTED POORLY SORTED

0.4FINE-SKEWED 0.2 0
NEAR-SYMMETRICAL COARSE-SKEWED

1 MOD. SORTED
MOD. WELL SORTED WELL SORTED

0
COARSE SAND

1
MEDIUM SAND

2
Mean
FINE SAND

-0.2 0

1
MEDIUM SAND

2
Mean
FINE SAND

COARSE SAND

C
M. W. SORTED M. SORT POORLY SORTED

D
V. P. SORTED

3
Kurtosis

V. LEPTOKURTIC LEPTOKURTIC MESOKURTIC PLATYKURTIC

0.6 V. FINE-SKEWED
Skewness

2 1 0

0.4
FINE-SKEWED

0.2 0
NEAR-SYMMETRICAL

V. PLATYKURTIC

0
COARSE SAND

1
MEDIUM SAND

2
FINE SAND

-0.2 0

0.5

1.5

2.5

Mean

COARSE-SKEWED

Standard Deviation

E
M. W. SORTED M. SORT POORLY SORTED V. P. SORTED C. SKEWED N. SYMMETRICAL FINE-SKEWED V. FINE-SKEWED

F
3
Kurtosis

3 V. LEPTOKURTIC
Kurtosis

V. LEPTOKURTIC LEPTOKURTIC MESOKURTIC

PLATYKURTIC

2 1 0

LEPTOKURTIC MESOKURTIC
PLATYKURTIC

2 1 0

V. PLATYKURTIC

V. PLATYKURTIC

0.5

1.5

2.5

-0.2

0.2
Skewness

0.4

0.6

Standard Deviation

Sediments from:

- Southern margin,

- Lake,

- Main land,

- Northern margin

Fig.5. Bivariate plots of (A) mean vs. standard deviation, (B) mean vs. skewness, (C) mean vs. kurtosis, (D) standard deviation vs. skewness, (E) standard deviation vs. kurtosis and (F) skewness vs. kurtosis.

C-M Pattern

The values of one percentile (C) and median (M) in microns on log-scale gives an idea of relationship between environment of deposition and the hydrodynamic forces acting during the deposition of sediments. It categorizes traction current deposits, turbidities and quite water suspension deposits (Passega, 1957, 1964 and Passega and Byramjee, 1969). The present values of nineteen samples mostly fall in almost upper left corner of the plot having C values more than one, which represents the field of rolled sediment (Passega, 1957) (Fig.6).
Visher Diagram

Visher (1969) tried to establish the relationship of

grain size and their transport by joining the points in a straight-line manner of the plot constructed on probability scale between grain size and cumulative values. Every straight line categorizes the sediment sub-population deposited according to their mode and energy of transporting medium i.e. (i) traction, (ii) saltation and (iii) suspension. The values of all the nineteen samples are plotted on log-probability curves as proposed by Visher (1969). A comparative study of the diagrams of all the four units shows dominantly the presence of two small sub-populations of traction and occasionally of suspension also, whereas, the saltation population is the major and predominant unit (Figs. 7A, B, C and D). Sometimes, the saltation also shows two sub-populations as in case of main land sediment,
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10000

1000

100

10

1 1 10 100 1000

M in micron Fig.6. C-M plots showing concentration of grains in upper left corner. Sediments from: - Southern margin, - Lake, Main land, - Northern margin.

which is poorly sorted, very leptokurtic in nature (M-3, Fig. 7C). Similarly, the suspension population may also show two sub-populations due to poor sorting, coarse-skewed nature of sediments (Figs. 7A and C). In general, there is a dominance of traction mode of deposition followed by saltation; however, suspension mode is also represented by a small quantity of sediments.
CONCLUSIONS

A total of nineteen sediment admixtures from Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica have been analyzed for their textural and statistical parameters. The main conclusions drawn are as follows: 1. The area represented by sediments varying from coarse to fine grain is dominated by medium sand-size fraction with an average value of 1.47 . 2. The characteristic feature of glacial sediments i.e. poor to very poor sorting of grains is well exhibited by most of the samples, falling in the range of 0.81 2.25 standard deviation. However, a few moderately-sorted sediments from the northern margin reveals the winnowing of the sediments through wave action in geological past. The dominance of fine-skewed nature of the sediment (Sk1 0.3 0.1 ) shows more percentage of fine-grained material in fine-tail. It is probably because of long, continued process of
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reduction and liberation of fine-grained material through attrition of suspended grains during the wind and glacial activities. The kurtosis values exhibit a variable situation ranging from platykurtic to leptokurtic nature of sediments (KG 0.70 1.48 ). However, the samples from the northern margin are dominantly mesokurtic in nature showing almost equal sorting in coarse and fine fractions. The reason for the same is as proposed on the basis of standard deviation, i.e. winnowing of the sediments. Conclusions drawn on the basis of individual parameters are also supported by bivariate plots. The bivariate plots, in strict sense, seem less effective to provide any precise relationship between two parameters, for which, these plots are normally interpreted. There is a faint relationship of increase in sorting and kurtosis with fineness of grains is visible from mean vs. standard deviation and mean vs. kurtosis plots respectively (Figs. 5A and C). 3. There is a dominance of rolled sediments as exhibited by C-M plot. 4. The Visher plots indicate the dominance of saltation population in the admixture. 5. It has been noticed that the sediments from entire area show almost the same characteristic though collected from four distinguishable major sites i.e. northern and southern margins of mainland which are transitional with polar ice-sheet and coastal area respectively, main rocky land of Schirmacher and inland lakes. The reason for this may be the high influence of wind of low to high speed up to the maximum of 92 knots prevailing in the area (Bera, 2004, Lal and Machnurkar, 2007), which unevenly distributes the sediments of entire region through erosional as well as depositional activities. This agent is quite active and powerful during the period of November to February, when most of the area is free from ice. Secondly, the thick ice-cover deposited in 7-8 cold months, get melts in summer period, as a result of which, the ice-welded sediments of various size settle down on the entire area and forms thin surficial layer of small debris. This surficial sediments or debris are devoid of any sorting, making the settled sediments as an admixture of poor to very poor sorted category. Therefore, most of the sediments from entire area show the same textural measure, which is a typical characteristic of glacial region. Acknowledgement: The samples are collected by one of the author (AKS), as a Member, Summer Team, 21st Indian Antarctica Expedition, for which, sincere thanks are due to

C in micron

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Fig.7. Arithmetic probability curves showing various trends of sub-populations - A) southern margin sediment (P-2) showing two small sub-populations of traction and suspension, B) lake sediment (L-1) - moderately sorted, fine grains of suspension, C) main rocky land (M-3) - two sub-populations of saltation and suspension and D) northern margin (S-4) - single population of traction and saltation.

NCAOR, Goa and DOD, Government of India, New Delhi. The facilities extended by Sri R.P. Lal (Leader) in collection of samples are thankfully acknowledged. The present work

has been carried out under the financial support of CSIR, New Delhi, in the form of a major research project No. 24/ 287/06EMR-II, awarded to one of the author (AKS).

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(Received: 25 April 2008; Revised form accepted: 26 August 2008)

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