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Textural characteristics of sediments and weathering in the Jhelum river basin located in Kashmir Valley, Western Himalaya

  • Research Articles
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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

This study presents a detailed textural and geochemical study of sediments of river Jhelum and its tributaries of Kashmir valley. The textural studies clearly established that the sediments were dominantly of medium grain size, moderately sorted and very positively skewed. The kurtosis suggested dominantly leptokurtic nature of sediments. The sediments were deposited under moderate to low energy conditions with dominant rolling processes. The statistical parameters showed little spatial as well as temporal variations. The observations are supported by the frequency curves and bivariate plots between various textural parameters, confirming the polymodal nature of sediments with dominant to moderate sand fraction. The bimodal and unimodal nature of the sediments was also present at certain locations. The major oxide elemental chemistry of the sediments indicated that the dominant elemental oxide was SiO2 followed by Al2O3 in all the sediments. The Chemical Index Alteration (CIA) and Resistant Index of Maturity (RM) reflected moderate weathering and immaturity of the sediments in the basin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, 247 667, India

    Riyaz Ahmad Mir

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, 190 006, India

    Gh Jeelani

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  1. Riyaz Ahmad Mir
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  2. Gh Jeelani
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Mir, R.A., Jeelani, G. Textural characteristics of sediments and weathering in the Jhelum river basin located in Kashmir Valley, Western Himalaya. J Geol Soc India 86, 445–458 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-015-0332-2

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