Grain size trend analysis for sediment characteristic of Cirebon Waters

Abstract

This research aims to understand the sediment characteristic of Cirebon waters using a grain size trend analysis (GSTA). The GSTA can be used to determine sediment physical characteristics and demonstrate the sedimentary processes. A total of 32 seabed surface sediments were analyzed by measuring the size of sedimentary grains using the Mastersizer 2000 instrument and calculating grain size parameters such as mean grain size, sorting, skewness, and kurtosis using geometric methods in the Gradistat program. Analysis of grain size showed that sediments in the Cirebon Waters are dominated by silt with ranges from 7.765 to 33.43 µm (very coarse to fine silt). The mean grain size and skewness values indicated an increase in current energy and sediment transport rate from the southwest to the northeast part of Cirebon Waters. Sediments are poorly sorted, and kurtosis is predominantly mesokurtic type. All sediments were deposited by deposition mechanism in pelagic suspension and affected by slow deposition from quiet waters. Granulometric analyses become a good proxy to give fundamental information on sediment dynamics.