The study of textural characteristics of marine sediments is very important to
understand the evolution and distribution of coastal deposits, the hydrodynamic conditions
of the depositional environments, and seasonal changes along the coasts, by co
llecting
samples during seasonal periods. Due to the lake of sach studies in our coast, aset of 14
samples has been collected from superficial sediments of Ras Ben Hane beache during the
beriod that range between 10/2015 and 6/2016. the grain size parameters (Mean,
Standarddiviation, Skewness, and Kurtosis) showed that the grains are coarse to very
coarse in their size, moderately to poorly sorted, coarse to strongly coarse skewed, and
mesokurtic to platykurtic. Based on the CM patterns, the samples fall in rolling fields,
while their morphological study showed that most of grains are subrounded.these
parameters confirm that the sediments were deposited under high energy conditions, as the
coarse and very coarse grains need high energy to more by rolling on the sea bed. while the
subrounded shape of the grains indicates that the grains are transported for along distance
befor they settels down in their site of deposition.
Detailed textural study of the Northern section of the Syrian Continental shelf
(N35.92991 E35.91785: N35.35752 E35.91542) has been carried out in order to determine
the sediment nature and distribution. The sediments are mainly coarse to very fine
-grained
particles, moderately sorted, negatively skewed to fine skewed and leptokurtic to
mesokurtic in nature. Interrelationship of various parameters shows bimodal nature of
sediments having dominance of mainly medium to coarse sand. The major part of the
sediment fall in coarse to very fine grained category (sand, silt and clay). Based on the CM
(Coarser one percentile and Median size values in micron) pattern, the sediment fall in
rolling and suspension field. These factors indicate that the sediments discharged from the
rivers mixes with offshore sediments and with the sediments eroded from a source rock.
Moreover, the wave energy conditions were high enough to disperse the sediments along
the shelf and passing it to the open ocean and later dispersing them by littoral currents.
This research focuses on determination the concentration of some heavy metal
elements (Nickel Ni and Cadmium Cd) in the coastal water sediments of Ras Al-Basit
(Latakia ) during the period that range between Autumn 2013 and Summer 2014 using the
A
tomic Absorption (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer: AAS) at two different (closed
and open) geographical regions.
The results of the research indicate a correlation monumental between the change in
the concentration of studied metallic elements (Ni & Cd), the quality and sediment
sampling sites on the one hand, and the sources of pollution on the other. It observed the
rule of fine sand with minor amount of clay in the sediments collected from closed area;
with high concentrations of both Nickel (755.50mg/Kg), and Cadmium (71.30μg/ Kg),
compared with the open area while the majority of the sediments are medium sand with
low Nickel and Cadmium concentrations (38.85mg/Kg; 13.31μg/ Kg).
Detailed sedimentary study of the Southern section of the Syrian Continental shelf (N 35.16022 E 35.92712: N 34.71354 E 35.94267) has been carried out in order to determine the sediment nature and distribution. The study of coastal sandy samples (fro
m beach to 2m water depth) revealed variation in the sand colours from place to place. This indicates that there are many sources for coastal sand mostly derived from the hinterlands. Six sediment sorting types were identified along the continental shelf and these are: Sand; Sandy Mud; Slightly Gravelly Sand; Slightly Gravelly Muddy Sand; Slightly Gravelly Sandy Mud; and Gravel. The textural studies clearly establish that the sediments are of medium grain size, moderately well sorted, very negatively skewed and mesokurtic. These parameters confirm that the sediments were deposited under moderate to high energy conditions. These conditions vary from place to another according to the place of deposition and the nature of the source material on one hand and the severity of the kinetic energy namely ocean currents, marine eddies, waves and tides on the other hand.
