Textural and Geochemical Studies of Relict and Modern Sediments of the Continental Shelf Off Honavar, West Coast of India

The textural and geochemical studies of shelf sediments off Honavar reveal three types of sedimenents - modern, relict and mixture. Modern sediments are present in the inner as well as outer shelf regions. The midshelf region mostly consists of relict sands. In general, the distribution pattern of Cu and Ni shows the zonal pattern as that of three types of sediments i.e., modern, relict and mixture. Cu, Ni, and Zn show high positive correlation with organic matter. Factor analysis reveals that the sedinients were derived from a terrigenous source and deposited in an oxidizing environment.