Heavy Minerals in the Sediments on the Outer Continental Shelf between Vengurla and Mangalore on the West Coast of India

Abstract

Fifty-eight sediment samples from the outer continental shelf between Vengurla and Mangalore were analysed for heavy minerals consist of principally opaques, hornblende, epidote, garnet, sillimanite, hypersthene and zircon, with minor amounts of andalusite, augite, kyanite, monazite, muscovite and tremolite-actinolite. This mineral assemblage and the distribution pattern define four heavy mineral provinces on the continental shelf from Vengurla to Mangalore. Further, the mineral assemblage suggests derivation from mixed metamorphic and igneous terrain with a predominant contribution from metamorphic rocks