Depositional environment and faunal assemblages of the reef-associated beachrock at Rameswaram and Keelakkarai Group of Islands, Gulf of Mannar, India

Abstract

Reef-associated beachrocks from Rameswaram and Keelakkarai group of islands (Holocene) were studied to assess the depositional environment and faunal assemblages. The samples were collected from marine terraces and reef platforms. Granulometrically, they are coarse to medium grained, moderately to very well sorted and fine to very fine skewed in character. The fine-skewed nature of the sediments suggests the prevalence of the environmental condition of low energy. The microfaunas associated in beachrock reflect the reefal environment of deposition. Bivariant plots show that the sediments were predominantly deposited under beach environment. The C-M pattern indicates that the sediments are deposited by rolling and graded suspension. The Visher diagram of the study area samples clearly shows the presence of a dominant single saltation, lack of population and no surface creep population. The low diversity and fair preservation of faunas reflect the transgressive phase and the shallow marine environmental condition. The commonly preserved species such as Quinqueloculina sp. and Triloculina sp. indicate the low-energy environmental conditions.

Keywords

depositional environment / faunal assemblages / granulometry / Gulf of Mannar

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Dr. M. Prithviraj, Director, Earth System Sciences, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, for providing financial support (No. SR/S4/ES-44/2003, dated: 01/11/2004) and to the authorities of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli and Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, for providing necessary facilities to carry out this work.

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