Grain size characteristics of terrigenous clastics in surface sediments of the Gulf of Thailand and their significance for sedimentary dynamic environment

doi:10.13745/j.esf.sf.2022.1.18

Abstract

Abstract:

The grain size characteristics of marine clastic sediments can directly reflect the marine sedimentary dynamic environment, thus can be used to study the variation of marine dynamic environment. In particular, the grain size distribution of surface sediments on the continental shelf plays an important role in studying the modern marine dynamic environment of coastal and water column bottom boundary layer. This research investigated the grain size distribution characteristics of terrigenous clastics in surface sediments collected from the Gulf of Thailand and the Mekong River estuary, to obtain the marine dynamic environmental processes affecting the particle sedimentation in specific sea areas. The results of grain size analysis show that the terrigenous clastics in surface sediments in the Gulf of Thailand are composed mainly of poorly sorted fine sand to fine silt, characterized mostly by positive skewness in frequency distribution patterns. The fine to very fine sand components are mainly distributed at the bay of Bangkok and shelves off Cambodia. The sediments off the Mekong River are fine sand and the sorting is better than that in the Gulf of Thailand. These grain size characteristics of surface sediments can serve as good proxies to explicitly indicate the environmental variations in this area. The well sorted medium sand with nearly normal distribution patterns in sediments off the Mekong River indicate the depositional environment under the influence of the waves. The poorly sorted medium sand to fine sand sediments in the bay of Bangkok and off Cambodia reflect the combined effect of tides and waves. The very fine sand to medium silt sediments with medium sorting and positive skewness in the east and west coast of the Gulf of Thailand reflect the controlling effect of tides. And the sediments in the central Gulf of Thailand with poorly sorting indicate the influence of surface currents. This study shows that the grain size distribution characteristics of terrigenous clastics in surface sediments of the Gulf of Thailand and off the Mekong River can be used to distinguish the control effects of different marine dynamic factors, and to reveal that the sedimentary dynamic environment in the Gulf of Thailand is mainly affected by tides, waves and currents and the sedimentary dynamic environment off the Mekong River is affected by waves.

Key words: grain size, surface sediments, sedimentary dynamic environment, Gulf of Thailand

CLC Number:

P736.21

FENG Shuo, LIU Zhifei, Penjai SOMPONGCHAIYAKUL, LIN Baozhi, Martin G. WIESNER. Grain size characteristics of terrigenous clastics in surface sediments of the Gulf of Thailand and their significance for sedimentary dynamic environment[J]. Earth Science Frontiers, 2022, 29(4): 211-220.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig.1 Geographic location of the Gulf of Thailand and distribution of sample stations therein

Fig.2 Surface sediment average grain size (a), sorting coefficient (b) and skewness (c) distributions in the Gulf of Thailand

Fig.3 Types of surface sediment grain size distributions in the Gulf of Thailand

Fig.4 Characteristics of grain size parameters (average particle size, sorting coefficient, skewness) in different regions of the Gulf of Thailand

Table 1 Characteristics of surface sediment grain size distributions in and grain size parameters for different regions of the Gulf of Thailand

区域名	峰值数	主峰粒径	次峰粒径	平均粒径Ф	分选	偏度
曼谷湾	4	中砂-极细砂	极细砂-极细粉砂	细砂-极细砂平均值:Ф 3.24	较差平均值:1.66	正偏态平均值:0.39
柬埔寨沿岸	3	中砂-细砂	粗粉砂	细砂-极细砂平均值:Ф 3.16	较差平均值:1.83	正偏态平均值:0.36
泰国湾东西沿岸	1	极细砂-粗粉砂		极细砂-中粉砂平均值:Ф 4.64	中等平均值:1.51	正偏态平均值:0.39
泰国湾中部	2	极细砂-粗粉砂	细粉砂-极细粉砂	极细砂-细粉砂平均值:Ф 5.31	较差平均值:1.76	正偏态平均值:0.28
湄公河岸外	1	细砂		细砂平均值:Ф 2.41	较好平均值:0.66	正态分布平均值:0.14

Fig.5 Typical surface sediment grain size probability cumulative curves (a) and distribution curves (b) for different regions of the Gulf of Thailand

Fig.6 Surface sediment grain size parameters for different regions of the Gulf of Thailand

Fig.7 Factors controlling surface sediment grain size distribution in the Gulf of Thailand

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