Particle flux during the southwest monsoon on the western margin of India

Abstract

Three sediment traps on a mooring were deployed on the outer shelf at a depth of 115 m from May to September 1985 on the western continental margin of India to study the particle flux during the southwest monsoon The morphology and mineralogy of the collected particulate matter is reported here The result suggests that present-day sedimentation on the outer shelf is dominated by larger particle or particle aggregates, composed mainly of biogenic carbonates Clay minerals in the samples collected are dominated by illite and chlorite derived most probably from the Indus River while the inner shelf clays are mainly composed of montmorillonite and kaolinite Compared to "cross shelf transport", "along shelf transport" of sediment appears to be the more dominant mechanism for sediment transport on the western continental shelf of India