THE STUDY OF DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF HEAVY MINERALS DEPOSITS ALONG PODAMPATA, EASTERN COAST OF ODISHA, INDIA USING GEOCHEMICAL AND MINERALOGICAL PROXY DATA COUPLED WITH SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES

The present study is aimed at studying the distribution pattern of heavy minerals in beach placer deposits in Podampata region (Latitude N19º20’58” Longitude E85º02’51”), along the eastern coast of Odisha, India. The sedimentary environment coupled to geochemical and mineralogical proxy data was utilised with in the berm region along the coast which extended up to about 8 k.m along NE-SW transect. The radioactive content within the heavy minerals present in the study area, are primarily Monazite, Komatiite, Davidite, etc. which exhibit radioactive anomaly due to the decay of ²³²U and ²³⁴Th. In-situ total radiation counts were measured by Micro R survey meter and the individual count's rate for ²³²U (in ppm) ²³⁴Th (in ppm) and ⁴⁰K (in %) was estimated by Gamma surveyor 2 equipment. The heavy mineral concentration was obtained using bromoform separation and the percentage of each heavy mineral constituting the population were estimated for each samples. Isodynamic separation and XRD were employed for identification of the heavy minerals present. The extreme meandering nature of the Rusikulya River has been observed to be the major contributor to the heavy mineral deposition due to erosion of the host rock. Various statistical parameters such as mean size, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis were undertaken. The variation from fine sand to medium sands could be attributed to the contribution of the meandering of the river. The sorting, skewness, kurtosis and bimodal nature of sediments illustrates the mixed type of environment with alteration during transportation of sediments. The mixed geomorphic agents which operated in the study area influence the distribution of heavy minerals and meandering nature of the Rusikulya River enhances heavy mineral enrichment along the NE-SW trend.