HEAVY MINERAL SEPARATION AND IDENTIFICATION IN PARTS OF SOUTHEAST COASTAL AREA, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

Abstract

The current study concentrates on heavy mineral separation using the bromoform technique. The main structural element is the distribution of several heavy minerals in coastal areas along a stretch of India's southeast coast in Tamil Nadu. The observed variations in the distribution of heavy minerals in the area are connected to differences in sediment supply, sorting, and oceanographic processes, all of which cause the sediments to be sorted in a specific way. The main factors affecting how heavy minerals are distributed in the depositional basin are mineral stability, density, particle size, wave velocity, and dynamics of beach morphologies. The heavy mineral assemblage of the study region is determined by the distribution of various types of minerals, and each mineral was identified using microscope techniques in the main study area. The assemblage is dominated by a select few minerals, including garnet (colourless), garnet (pink), zircon, rutile, chlorite, etc. Numerous igneous rocks, high-grade metamorphic rocks, Precambrian gneissic, granitic, and basic rocks were present in the heterogeneous provenance that gave rise to the ubiquitous zircon, monazite, and sillimanite that can be found in both seashore and inland red teri sands. This provenance almost probably originated from a coastal region