Abstract
Beach placers are concentrations of economically potential minerals formed by surface earth processes and are identified as one of the most easily exploitable mineral deposits in the world. We studied the placer and non-placer sediments in lagoonal and riverine beaches of the southeastern part of Sri Lanka to unravel their specific sedimentary features, depositional settings and paleoenvironments. Swash zone deposits (105) were investigated for their surface microtextures, granulometry and their identification. Near the lagoonal outlets, black-coloured placers are reported with abundant ilmenite and accessory zircon, while red-coloured almandine placers are founded in the riverine areas. Placer deposits are composed of coarse-skewed leptokurtic to platykurtic fine sand and evidenced for dominant bottom suspension mechanisms on the weak wave-generated depositional agent. Quartz grains (240) from placer and siliciclastic sediments showed the presence of 25 pre-defined microtextures indicating the influences from sub-aqueous beach, fluvial, aeolian and chemical alteration processes. From siliciclastic to red placer to black placer sediments, decreasing order of source-sink distance and increasing order of fluvial influences are resulted. Cracks and solution pits are higher in the sediments of placer deposits revealing their deposition in the steady low energy environment. The crosscut relations indicate prevailed pre-aeolian processes and post-chemical alteration processes on placer deposits. Large conchoidal fractures, arcuate and straight steps microtextures, and mineralogical contents of the placer deposits infer the crystalline rock sources of granitic gneiss and garnet-bearing granulites of the Precambrian Vijayan Complex and Highland-Vijayan tectonic boundary zone.
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The data that supports the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
Authors are thankful for excellent field assistance from Y.M.S.G. Imantha, U.D.C. Wickramarathna, A.G.A.L. Danushka, P.M.I.U. Aththanayaka and S.S.S.T. Fernando.
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This study is financially supported by the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka (SEUSL) through the grant No. SEU/ASA/RG/2021/05, and it is greatly acknowledged.
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Chaturanga Sandaruwan: conceptualization, methodology, software, formal analysis, data curation, writing—original draft. Nadeesha Madugalla: conceptualization, validation, resources, writing—review and editing, supervision. Madurya Adikaram: conceptualization, validation, resources, writing—review and editing, supervision. Amarasooriya Pitawala: conceptualization, resources, writing—review and editing, supervision. Tharanga Udagedara: investigation, resources, formal analysis, data curation.
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Highlights
• Lagoonal coastal placers are titanium placers with byproducts of zircon and almandine.
• Titanium placers are bottom-suspended fine sand that has been deposited under low-turbulence conditions.
• Microtextural tracers show multiple sedimentary episodes on quartz sediments.
• Precambrian Vijayan crust source for placers laid on the southeast coast, Sri Lanka.
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Sandaruwan, C., Madugalla, N., Adikaram, M. et al. Microtexture and grain size characteristics of lagoonal and riverine coastal deposits along the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka: implication for paleoenvironment. Arab J Geosci 16, 111 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-11149-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-11149-4