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Geochemistry of the Floodplain Sediments of the Kaveri River, Southern India

Article  in  Journal of Sedimentary Research · January 2001

DOI: 10.1306/042800710050

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 GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTS OF THE KAVERI RIVER, SOUTHERN INDIA
PRAMOD SINGH AND V. RAJAMANI
School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, INDIA
e-mail: rajamani44@hotmail.com, vrm@jnuniv.ernet.in
ABSTRACT: The floodplain sediments of the Kaveri River, southern
India, derived from Archean gneissic and charnockitic source regions,
show interbedding of silty (4–4.7 F) and sandy units (1.4–3.7 F). The
geochemistry of silty beds is remarkably uniform at a given location
and over a lateral distance of nearly 250 km; the sandy beds have
more variable chemical compositions, yet are comparable to those of
silty beds except for the diluting effect of quartz. Silty sediments retain
the geochemical signature of prominently exposed source rocks for al-
most all elements and provide evidence of tectonic instability in the
source region. The floodplain sediments contain all size grades (sand,
silt, and clay), which may have resulted in minimizing the biases im-
posed on suspended and bedload sediments due to sorting. The low
Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA), the dominance of unweathered
primary minerals, and the minor proportion of smectitic clay all sug-
gest that the region has been subjected to little chemical weathering.
This is possible if the region has undergone recent uplift, exposing fresh
Archean rock to surface denudation. The formation of fertile farmland
along the Kaveri River course and its delta is related to these recent
geological processes.
INTRODUCTION
The chemistry of clastic sediments has been found to be very useful in
provenance studies (Bhatia 1983; McLennan and Taylor 1983; Taylor and
McLennan 1985; Wronkiewicz and Condie 1987; Cullers et al. 1988; Feng
and Kerrich 1990; Condie et al. 1992; van De Kamp and Leake 1994;
Garver and Scott 1995; Fedo et al. 1996; Nesbitt and Young 1996; Holail
and Moghazi 1998; McCann 1998). In Recent sediments, the chemical
composition has been shown to be a function of several geologic, climatic,
and biotic factors affecting the weathering of the source rocks to soils
(Duddy 1980; Suttner et al. 1981; McLennan 1989; Cullers and Stone 1991;
Berner 1992; Stallard 1992; Johnsson 1994; White and Blum 1995; Nesbitt
and Young 1996). Specifically the nature and extent of source rock weath-
ering, physical sorting during transport (Sawyer 1986; Nesbitt and Young
1996), and environment of deposition and diagenesis exert significant con-
trol on sediment geochemistry (Taylor and McLennan 1985; Milliken and
Mack 1990; Milliken et al. 1994; Fralick and Kronberg 1997; McCann
1998). In addition, sediment reworking also affects the chemistry, partic-
ularly in ancient sediments (McLennan 1982; Cox and Lowe 1995). Al-
though the tectonic setting of source regions and depositional environment
of sediments have been thought to exert the overall primary control on
sedimentary chemistry (Dickinson and Suczek 1979; Bhatia 1983; Bhatia
and Crook 1986; Roser and Korsch 1988; Feng and Kerrich 1990), the
mechanisms involved in geochemical fractionation during soil formation,
sediment transport, and deposition are not adequately understood. More
geochemical data on sediments from diverse geological environments are
needed to understand the efficacy of surface processes in element distri-
bution and migration and to aid in interpreting older sediments.
The chemistry of channel-bed and suspended-load sediments has been
used to evaluate provenance in modern alluvial systems (Cullers 1988;
Cullers et al. 1988; Nesbitt et al. 1996). Neither of these closely represents
the composition of source rocks (Stewart 1993; Albaréde and Semhi 1995;
Nesbitt and Young 1996). This is because of the strong physical sorting of
sediments during transport and deposition leading to concentration of
quartz and feldspar with some heavy minerals in the coarse fraction (bed-
JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTARY RESEARCH, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY, 2001, P. 50–60
Copyright q 2001, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) 1073-130X/01/071-50/$03.00
load sediments) and of secondary, lighter and more weatherable minerals
in the suspended load. This mineral sorting results in chemical differences
between the two types of sediment load and consequently their deviation
from the source-rock composition. On the other hand, floodplain sediments
(FPS) have textures intermediate between those deposited from bedload
and suspended load because of their formation by deposition of material
carried in suspension, which contains fine to medium sand lifted from the
river bed by the high energy of water at the time of flooding. This inter-
mediate texture so obtained could lead to chemistry more closely approx-
imating the source rocks, if source-rock weathering did not remove soluble
cations from the minerals. The geochemical characteristics of FPS is there-
fore potentially useful in evaluating the nature of the parent rocks, tectonic
setting, and the climatic variability of the source region. In the present
study, we discuss the texture, mineralogy, and geochemical characteristics
of the FPS of the Kaveri River in southern India to evaluate their usefulness
in understanding sediment provenance and neotectonic activity that oc-
curred in the catchment area of the river. Our study also provides some
important information on geochemical differentiation by surface geological
processes as well as the formation of fertile farmland.
GEOLOGY OF THE KAVERI RIVER BASIN
The Kaveri River basin lies between latitude 108 79 N to 138 289 N and
longitude 758 289 E and 798 529 E. At present the region has a subhumid
climate and receives 1092 mm average annual rainfall, mainly from south-
west monsoon winds.
The river basin covers an area of about 87,900 km 2, spread over the
states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The river originates in the
Brahamagiri Range of the Western Ghats at an elevation of 1345 m above
mean sea level and extends approximately 800 kilometers to the Bay of
Bengal (Fig. 1). The initial course of the river is towards the east over the
Mysore Plateau (average elevation 1000 m). The final course of the river
in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it has built up flood plains and a delta,
is also towards the east. Between the Mysore Plateau and the Tamil Nadu
plains are a series of block mountains thought to have formed after the
collision of the Indian and Asian continents (Radhakrishna 1993; Valdiya
1998). In this mountainous tract, the drainage pattern of the river becomes
trellis-like, resulting in an overall southward flow for the main channel.
Radhakrishna (1993) suggested that the river in the Mysore Plateau has
been rejuvenated by uplift of the region. In the southern, lower reaches of
the river, two major streams, the Bhavani and Amravati, join the Kaveri
River. These two major tributaries also originate from the uplifted regions
of Nilgiri, Cardamom, and Anaimalai hills. The two major tributaries and
the main channel are thought to follow major, crustal-scale shear known
as the Palghat–Kaveri gap, separating two continental blocks (Radhakrishna
1993). After flowing for about 60 kilometers, with a channel width of
nearly 3 kilometers, the river begins bifurcating just before Tiruchy, from
where it starts building up its wide delta.
The main lithologies underlying the drainage basin include 3300–2900
Ma TTG-type peninsular gneiss; tonalite gneiss, approximately 2600–2500
Ma old; charnockite and granites; and very minor proportions of supra-
crustal rocks. The upper reaches of the river drain through dominantly
amphibolite-facies gneisses, and the lower reaches flow over granulitic
rocks; the uplifted and rejuvenated segment also includes predominantly
charnockites and other granulitic rocks. The gneisses are strongly foliated,
migmatized, and extensively sheared. The dominant minerals are plagio-
 GEOCHEMISTRY OF FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTS, SOUTHERN INDIA
FIG. 1.—Geological map of the study area. Locations of the sampling profiles discussed in text include: (1) Singampettai; (2) Bhavani; (3) R.N. Puddur; (4) Cholasiramani;
(5) Dalvayapalyam; (6) Sirugamani; (7) Mukambhu; and (8) Anbil. Modified from Raith et al. (1983).
clase, quartz, K-feldspar, biotite, and hornblende (Mahabaleswar et al.
1995). Accessory phases include magnetite, apatite, sphene, and zircon. The
foliated charnockites derived from the gneisses also have similar mineral-
ogy, except for the replacement of hornblende by hypersthene and the
appearance of garnet. The upland massif charnockites of Anaimalai and
Cardamom hills have quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase, orthopyroxenes, mag-
netite, ilmenite, hornblende, and biotite as dominant minerals, with zircon
and apatite as accessory phases.
The catchment region is crisscrossed by several N–S and E–W striking
shear zones and fault systems. It has been suggested by Radhakrishna
(1993) and Valdiya (1998) that the uplift and formation of block mountains,
such as the Nilgiris, the Biligirirangan, and the Sheveroy, are the result of
reactivation of these shear and fault systems due to Himalayan orogeny.
However, the timing and the duration of the uplift are still not known. The
region is also known to be seismically active historically. The presence of
block mountains with planation surfaces at different elevations seems to
suggest that the region has been tectonically active since the time of sep-
aration of India from Gondwanaland (Radhakrishna 1993; Valdiya 1998).
Although rocks of the drainage basin are older than 2500 Ma, they were
first exposed to the surface possibly during the Cenozoic and, at places, as
late as the Quaternary. This is assumed because the entire region is covered
by only a thin blanket of regolithic material; typical horizonated soil pro-
files are very rare. If the sediments of the Kaveri River, floodplain, and
delta were derived from uplifted areas with poorly developed soil cover,
the sediments should be chemically immature. A major objective of the
51
present study is to test the neotectonic activity of the Kaveri catchment
region by studying the sediments deposited by the river on the floodplain.
SAMPLING AND ANALYTICAL METHODS
Samples were collected from vertical profiles 2–5 m thick cut into the
floodplain of variable width (a few hundred meters to a few kilometers on
either side) at eight different locations along the channel for a distance of
about 250 km from Singampettai to Anbil (Fig. 1). The profiles studied
were located 30 to 300 m from the bank of the river at bankfull stage and
contained layers recording several past floods. Approximately two kilo-
grams of sediments were collected from a meter-long groove made in each
bed. Sampling site 1 at Singampettai (samples PR1A–1F) contains sedi-
ments younger than 3110 6 90 yr B.P (Singh 1999) based on 14C dating
of organic remains in sediment and charcoal at 1.5 m depth. The next site
(2) is at Bhavani (samples 1A–1D) followed by site (3) at R.N. Puddur
(samples 2A–2C). Three sites farther downstream are (4) at Cholasiramani
(samples PR2A–2O), where 14C age of organics contained in the sediments
from a two meter depth is estimated to be 4350 6 100 yr B.P.; (5) Dal-
vayapalyam (samples PR4A–4J), where the radiocarbon age determination
of organics in sediment suggest an age for sediments ranging from 0 to
900 6 200 yr B.P.; (6) Sirugmani (samples PR7A–PR7E). The last sam-
pling profile (7), just before entering the delta region is situated at Mukam-
bhu (samples PR6A–6H). The last site (8) is located at Anbil (samples
52 P. SINGH AND V. RAJAMANI
PR8A–8I) and is situated in the delta region, on the northern bank of the
main channel, Kollidam.
Each sample consisted of one to two kilograms. They were air-dried and
then homogenized. One hundred grams of each homogenized sample was
ground to 2200 mesh (0.075 mm) size in an agate mortar for geochemical
and XRD mineralogical study. Grain size was measured following the stan-
dard pipetting method (Gale and Hoare 1991) for the silt and clay fraction
after treating 50 g of the sample with cold 1M HCl and H2O2 to remove
carbonates and organics and deflocculating the sample by adding sodium
hexametaphosphate, and separating the sand by wet sieving. The size frac-
tions above 0.063 mm were determined by dry sieving. Mineral identifi-
cation was performed using a Phillips XRD (PW1140) and by petrographic
examination of thin sections. Heavy minerals were separated using brom-
oform and identified under a binocular microscope. Clay minerals in the
clay fraction, separated by the Atterberg method (Muller 1967), were iden-
tified by X-ray diffraction after mounting the samples on glass slides and
running the untreated, glycolated, and heat-treated (at 5508C) samples.
Homogenized powders of sediment samples were digested following the
open beaker acid digestion procedure using HF, HNO3, and HClO4, and
analyzed for major and trace elements on a Labtam 8440 ICP-AES using
international and laboratory working standards. For determination of CaO
in silicate phase, samples were separately treated with 1M cold dilute HCl
acid before digestion and were analyzed separately. SiO2 was determined
by a Bausch and Lomb Spectronic 20 spectrophotometer; Na2O and K2O
were analyzed on a flame photometer. Elemental analyses have a precision
better than 5% of the amount present. Special care was taken to ensure the
accuracy of Cr analysis by using appropriate standards. Preliminary 14C
dates were determined on the sediment samples using a Quantulus liquid
scintillation system (manufactured by LKB Wallace) at Physical Research
Laboratory, Ahmedabad (Singh 1999). Concentrations on representative Zr
samples were analyzed by the XRF (Siemens SRS3000) at Wadia Institute
of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun.
RESULTS
Texture
Floodplain sediments commonly contain fine-grained detritus consisting
of sand, silt, and clay in varying proportions (Miall 1996). The sediment
texture also depends on the architecture of the floodplain deposits, which
is highly variable for different rivers and different locations on the flood-
plain. These factors preclude any generalization on the sediment texture of
floodplain deposits. For small and medium streams the texture and min-
eralogy of proximal and distal flood facies are commonly similar, whereas
variations are significant for larger streams which have developed wider
floodplains (Tunbridge 1981). The distal floodplain facies of such large
streams are more clayey than the proximal facies (Bridge 1984; Wright
and Robinson 1988; Smith 1990, 1993; Willis and Behrensmeyer 1994).
The floodplain sediments of the Kaveri, studied in vertical profiles, are
characterized by the stacking of planar beds with no perceptible internal
structures. Where the flood records are well preserved in profiles, these
beds occur in repeating couplets of a silty bed (4–4.7 F) underlain by a
sandy bed (1.4–3.7 F). The silty sediments are dark brown with some clay
and sand present (Table 1). The sandy sediment is lighter in color and
consists mainly of medium to fine sand, with moderate amounts of silt and
minor amounts of clay. Both bed types commonly lack any internal struc-
tures and appear to be massive. Often a silty bed is directly overlain by
the sandy bed of the subsequent flood. Such couplets of coarse to fine beds
can be envisaged as the product of single, major flood events (Bridge and
Diemer 1983; Mossop and Flach 1983). Such simple couplets are in general
deposited by rivers with lower gradient.
The Kaveri River has deposited thick, massive and graded beds without
any discernible couplets as it enters the plains (Sites 1 and 2). In this stretch
of about 30 km, the gradient of the riverbed is still higher (1.7 m/km).
These massive, graded beds can be differentiated from each other on the
basis of their erosional contacts, color, and texture. Normally graded bed-
ding on a floodplain may be produced by flashy discharge with rapid dump-
ing of sediment occurring during a short-lived flood stage. This is com-
monly expected in parts of the river with a high gradient. The Kaveri,
which is a medium-order stream, has narrow floodplains, and thus does not
show distinct lateral variation in texture. The sediments are formed by
aggradation because the beds are planar in section along and across the
channel length.
Silty sediments in the floodplain wherever sampled have similar mean
sizes (4–4.7 F); the sandy sediments, however, have a wider range (1.4–
3.7 F). Only on reaching the deltaic region do the sediments become more
sorted, with silty sediments depleted in sand and enriched in clay (up to
50%; mean size exceeds 5 F) and the sand beds become almost clay free.
Mineralogy
The minerals in the sediments include quartz, K-feldspar (dominantly
microcline), and plagioclase as major phases, biotite, hornblende and py-
roxene as minor phases, and sphene, magnetite, garnet, zircon, and ilmenite
as heavy minerals. The clay minerals identified by X-ray diffraction are
dominantly smectite and illite. Kaolinite is also present in lesser amounts.
No appreciable down-profile variation in clay mineralogy was observed.
Although mineral proportions may vary between sand and silt beds, the
general mineralogy of the sediment is not found to vary either vertically
or laterally.
Geochemistry
Sediment Characteristics.—Major-element and trace-element analyses
of silty and sandy sediment from the floodplain area of the Kaveri basin
are given in Table 1. For the purpose of comparison the average compo-
sition of silty and sandy beds of the floodplain, bedload sediments, and
analyses of potential source rocks to these sediments are given in Table 2.
The average composition of two samples collected 50 km apart in the river
channel is used for average bedload.
The two groups of sediments from the floodplain area show a limited
range in the concentration of all elements. The major distinguishing fea-
tures for the two groups are: (1) sandy sediments have higher SiO2 contents
with a larger range and (2) silty beds have higher Fe, Mg and Al contents.
Na, K, Ba, Sr, and Zr show similar trends (Fig. 2). The mean size of
sediment samples collected from a profile and the concentration of various
elements is shown in Figure 3. Many elements show a parallel variation
with sediment mean size. In general, silty beds have higher concentrations
of all elements, except silica, than sandy beds. When all the samples are
considered together, Al, Fe, Mg, Ni, Cr, and Y show negative correlations
with SiO2, whereas Ba and Sr show only a small degree of negative cor-
relation. No correlation is seen among Na, K, Ti, and Zr (Fig. 2, Table 3).
It is interesting to note that within a profile, samples with similar mean
size also have similar concentrations of many elements. Silty sediments
with similar mean size (4.3 6 0.3 F) collected along a stretch of nearly
250 kilometers on the floodplain have very uniform composition (Fig. 4).
Up to sample location 7, there is a varying degree of enrichment of Fe, Al,
and all feldspar components (Na, K, Ba, Sr) in the silty sediments in a
downstream direction; in the same interval SiO2 shows a decreasing trend
and other elements do not show any significant trend. In the sample col-
lected from the apex of the delta, where the river has become braided
(sample location 8, Fig. 1), the silty sediments contain a higher percentage
of clay and a lower percentage of sand. The same sample has reduced
concentrations of feldspar components (Na2O, K2O, CaO, Ba, and Sr) and
higher concentration of Al, Fe, Mg, Cr, and Ni. The latter group of elements
shows a strong positive correlation with clay contents in the silty sediments
(Table 3).
 GEOCHEMISTRY OF FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTS, SOUTHERN INDIA 53

TABLE 1.—Major-element and trace-element composition of sediments from the Kaveri flood plain from various locations, along with their CIA, Mean size (Mz) in F
units, and clay percentage. Locations and sample numbers: Singampettai (PR1A–PR1F); Bhavani (1A–1D); R.N. Puddur (2A–2C); Cholasiramani (PR2A–PR2O); Dal-
vayapalyam (PR4A–PR4I); Sirugamani (PR7A–PR7D); Mukambhu (PR6A–PR6H) and Anbil (PR8A–PR8I).

PR1A PR1B PR1C PR1D PR1E PR1F 1A 1D 2A 2B 2C PR2A PR2B PR2C PR2E PR2F PR2H
Mz 3.5 3.3 3.8 4.0 4.1 4.4 3.3 4.0 4.1 3.7 3.3 3.7 3.1 4.6 4.2 3.1 3.2
Clay 17.4 13.3 28.2 27.3 27.8 43.0 2.2 26.8 25.8 16.3 14.2 20.9 13.2 33.6 33.6 16.0 6.7
SiO2 71.3 75.6 70.0 65.5 67.0 62.5 69.4 63.8 63.3 64.5 64.0 68.8 73.9 63.1 63.7 74.0 74.0
TiO2 1.2 1.4 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.7 0.7 1.0 1.2 1.4 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.9
Al2O3 11.3 10.9 13.3 13.4 12.6 13.7 13.2 16.1 15.1 15.2 15.0 13.6 11.8 16.5 13.5 11.9 13.9
FeO 2.8 3.0 3.9 4.1 4.3 5.0 4.9 5.4 6.5 6.8 7.1 4.1 3.2 5.1 4.9 3.8 3.9
MnO 0.06 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.06 0.10 0.09 0.08 0.08 0.09 0.09 0.07 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.07
MgO 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.1 1.0 1.0 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 1.2 1.0 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2
CaO 2.2 2.1 1.9 2.7 2.0 2.8 2.1 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.8 2.5 2.4 2.9 2.9 2.5 2.5
Na2O 2.2 2.5 2.0 2.1 1.8 1.8 2.2 2.4 2.2 2.6 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.6
K2O 2.0 2.1 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.6 2.3 2.3 1.6 1.8 1.7 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.2
P2O5 0.10 0.11 0.08 0.09 0.09 0.10 0.14 0.16 0.15 0.17 0.19 0.10 0.08 0.12 0.11 0.09 0.07
LOI 6.0 1.1 3.9 8.3 8.2 10.9 1.2 3.1 4.3 1.6 2.4 2.4 1.7 3.7 7.5 1.0
Total 99.6 99.4 98.8 99.9 99.5 100.4 98.6 98.3 98.4 98.6 99.8 98.7 99.5 98.3 99.0 99.7 101.3
CaO* 2.0 2.0 1.8 2.4 2.0 2.8 2.0 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.7 2.8 2.3 2.4
Ni 59 91 81 83 98 104 97 113 109 94 97 104 118 113 131 71 63
Cr 154 118 167 189 177 219 191 285 291 278 315 192 143 223 202 137 112
Ba 760 902 711 679 670 702 501 592 541 531 578 595 561 597 591 573 433
Sr 342 341 311 337 310 359 400 356 356 375 397 364 333 348 362 338 183
Zr 453 528 519 505 516 413 501 334 370 519
Y 19 18 20 21 24 26 22 28 28 27 28 23 18 30 27 18 13
CIA 54 53 61 58 61 59 57 61 62 59 57 55 52 60 55 54 56

PR2J PR2K PR2L PR2M PR2N PR2O PR4A PR4B PR4C PR4D PR4E PR4F PR4G PR4I PR7A PR7B PR7C
Mz 3.5 2.9 1.4 4.1 4.3 4.8 4.4 2.7 4.3 2.4 4.0 2.4 4.6 4.2 2.9 3.9 3.2
Clay 5.7 9.4 5.9 30.4 31.0 36.6 28.0 6.5 21.4 4.9 26.6 5.0 24.8 25.8 1.0 10.7 10.5
SiO2 70.8 74.0 81.6 64.4 63.1 61.2 62.1 71.7 66.9 71.1 66.3 74.4 62.6 66.0 75.6 61.7 69.0
TiO2 0.7 0.7 0.8 1.0 1.0 0.1 0.7 0.6 0.8 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.7
Al2O3 14.0 12.0 7.7 13.9 15.4 15.6 15.1 12.6 15.4 12.3 15.5 10.6 15.2 15.7 12.2 15.2 13.6
FeO 3.2 2.9 3.4 5.2 4.8 5.4 5.2 3.0 4.2 3.3 4.9 2.9 4.7 5.6 3.2 4.3 4.1
MnO 0.05 0.06 0.09 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.10 0.05 0.07 0.06 0.09 0.05 0.08 0.06 0.05 0.08 0.07
MgO 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.5 1.9 2.1 1.8 1.2 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.7 1.2 1.8 1.6
CaO 3.1 2.4 1.9 2.5 3.0 2.9 2.9 3.1 3.0 3.2 2.7 2.4 3.5 2.8 2.7 3.1 3.0
Na2O 3.2 2.8 1.4 2.5 2.9 2.5 2.5 3.0 3.0 2.6 2.5 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.2 2.4 2.3
K2O 2.2 2.2 1.6 2.0 1.7 1.6 1.9 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.8
P2O5 0.10 0.09 0.08 0.12 0.11 0.11 0.15 0.08 0.11 0.10 0.12 0.11 0.10 0.12 0.13 0.13 0.12
LOI 1.3 1.6 1.1 6.0 4.8 9.2 6.9 1.7 1.5 2.8 3.2 2.3 5.6 2.1 7.3 2.6
Total 99.8 99.7 100.8 99.1 98.8 100.7 99.4 99.1 98.5 99.4 99.7 99.1 98.9 99.6 99.8 98.8 98.9
CaO* 2.9 2.3 1.7 2.4 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.2 3.0 2.8 2.5 2.5 2.5
Ni 64 60 51 104 100 118 86 30 82 46 83 67 75 86 49 86 65
Cr 132 127 131 212 214 237 190 64 151 109 161 139 167 191 93 151 129
Ba 624 609 429 574 554 540 696 837 731 776 779 751 785 726 706 954 829
Sr 431 353 206 382 401 374 341 420 369 331 348 358 383 350 343 469 387
Zr 349 579 355 250 375 201 248 345 348 371 411
Y 18 15 15 29 27 28 26 14 21 17 17 14 25 27 15 24 18
CIA 52 52 52 57 58 59 58 51 56 52 59 50 56 58 55 59 57

PR7D PR6A PR6B PR6C PR6D PR6E PR6F PR6G PR6H PR8A PR8B PR8D PR8E PR8F PR8G PR8H PR8I
Mz 3.2 4.5 4.7 4.2 4.1 4.0 2.3 3.5 4.1 2.6 2.3 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.3 5.1 2.7
Clay 1.0 28.9 27.2 36.3 8.7 31.7 6.1 20.4 32.1 2.1 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 49.9 2.1
SiO2 70.4 59.9 59.9 58.3 65.6 54.7 74.4 65.6 58.3 78.9 76.9 83.2 80.6 83.2 76.9 52.9 73.1
TiO2 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.8 0.7
Al2O3 13.2 17.3 16.4 17.2 15.5 15.8 10.9 14.1 16.1 10.8 9.2 9.0 7.4 8.5 9.5 17.3 12.2
FeO 3.4 5.3 5.7 6.7 4.6 7.1 3.1 4.5 5.4 2.5 2.8 1.7 2.7 2.4 2.6 7.2 3.5
MnO 0.06 0.09 0.10 0.12 0.07 0.12 0.05 0.09 0.08 0.05 0.05 0.02 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.14 0.06
MgO 1.5 1.9 2.1 2.4 1.9 2.7 1.3 1.8 2.3 1.1 1.2 0.6 1.0 0.9 1.2 2.1 1.4
CaO 3.3 3.5 4.0 3.7 4.2 4.5 2.2 3.2 4.0 2.4 2.0 1.7 1.6 1.8 2.3 2.0 3.0
Na2O 2.2 3.0 2.8 1.8 3.4 1.8 2.4 2.7 3.1 1.4 1.0 1.1 1.2 0.9 1.1 1.9 2.1
K2O 1.8 2.5 2.7 1.7 2.3 1.7 2.2 2.2 2.2 1.1 1.0 1.3 1.5 1.0 1.2 1.7 1.6
P2O5 0.13 0.16 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.15 0.09 0.13 0.16 0.10 0.09 0.07 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.17 0.12
LOI 3.2 5.0 5.1 6.5 2.1 8.9 2.3 4.3 6.0 1.9 5.1 1.8 2.9 1.7 3.9 11.9 1.9
Total 99.9 99.5 99.7 99.5 100.8 98.2 99.6 99.3 98.2 100.7 99.9 100.6 99.6 100.8 99.2 98.1 99.5
CaO* 2.2 2.9 2.8 1.8 3.4 1.9 2.2 2.9 3.1 1.4 1.0 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.6 2.1
Ni 54 105 116 147 76 151 58 94 122 46 46 28 40 40 49 164 57
Cr 113 204 202 247 174 259 123 180 202 85 99 29 84 78 89 278 120
Ba 722 1094 1197 1048 1018 1029 806 973 1099 624 633 648 525 596 585 530 663
Sr 429 464 465 385 565 498 370 457 503 363 318 272 243 269 305 257 395
Zr 478 298 573 311 348 325 239
Y 16 26 27 30 22 30 15 21 25 11 13 7 12 10 13 33 15
CIA 58 57 57 69 53 67 52 54 55 65 66 63 56 63 65 68 58
The major-elements (oxides) and trace elements are in percentage and ppm, respectively.
CaO* 5 CaO in silicate phase.
CaO 5 CaO (Total).
Zr 5 XRF analysis.
54 P. SINGH AND V. RAJAMANI

TABLE 2.—Average value of major elements (oxide wt%) and trace elements (ppm) et al. 1996) because of sediment sorting, but in the Kaveri sediments even
for silty, sandy, and bed-load sediment along with that of charnockite, gneisses, the sandy beds have high concentration of Ni (50–115 ppm) and Cr (112–
UCC, and PAAS.
185 ppm). This suggests that factors other than sediment sorting during
Average Average Average
transport, such as the nature of source-rock weathering, could have played
Silty Sandy Average Char- Average a role in concentrating Ni and Cr in the sediments.
Bed Bed Bed Load nockite Gneisses UCC PAAS
Among the samples studied, Fe, Mg, Al, Mn, Ni, and Cr show a strong
SiO2 67.4 75.7 87.2 69.2 67.7 66.0 61.6 positive correlation among themselves and the clay contents (Table 3).
TiO2 0.9 0.8 0.2 0.5 0.4 0.5 1.0
Al2O3 16.4 12.0 5.6 14.2 14.9 15.2 18.3 However, Na, K, Ba, and Sr are not correlated to any other chemical pa-
FeO 5.7 3.8 1.6 5.4 4.7 4.5 7.4 rameters or to the clay contents of samples. Similarly, Ti shows a weak
MnO 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
MgO 1.9 1.3 0.6 2.0 1.4 2.2 2.7 correlation with Zr but does not have a pronounced correlation with any
CaO 2.6 2.1 1.6 3.2 3.3 4.2 4.2 other element. These observations indicate that (1) clay minerals present
Na2O 2.5 2.2 1.5 3.6 4.6 3.9 1.1 were dominantly formed by weathering of mafic minerals, (2) feldspars are
K2O 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.8 3.4 3.4
Ni 106 64 21 58 22 20 95 present in all the size fractions without any selective fractionation, and (3)
Cr 214 135 51 213 47 35 100 that Ti-bearing minerals such as sphene, ilmenite, magnetite, and biotite
Ba 756 651 580 530 265 550 580
Sr 380 339 196 330 319 350 450 are present in all the size fractions and are not strongly fractionated by a
Zr 396 332 154 212 190 200 sorting process. The variation in the abundance of specific elements
Y 26 17 9 22 30
throughout the sample set seems to be simply related to the diluting effect
Data source: Charnockite (Condie and Allen 1984; Janardhan et al. 1983); Gneisses (Mahabaleshwar et al. of quartz (Fig. 2). Significant differences in the chemistry of the sandy and
1995); UCC and PAAS (Taylor and McLennan 1985).
silty sediments in a floodplain require chemical weathering and/or effective
hydrodynamic fractionation of mineral phases that occur predominantly in
Two aspects of sediment chemistry are noteworthy: (1) unusually high one size fraction. The sediments of the Kaveri River saw neither long
concentration of Ni and Cr, both in silty and sandy beds and (2) high transport nor prolonged weathering and reworking. Just as with their min-
concentrations of Mg and the so-called mobile elements such as Ca, Na, eralogy, the sediments also appear to be chemically immature.
K, and Sr in the sediments, which are comparable to those of granodioritic
rocks. High Ni (70–130 ppm) and Cr (160–225 ppm) abundance in the SOURCE
silty beds might suggest a mafic-rock-dominated source region. However,
concentrations of other elements in the sediments, as well as provenance The bulk composition of the silty sediments is similar to average grano-
lithologies, do not support this inference. A mafic bias for the source of dioritic rocks. As noted earlier, the catchment area of the Kaveri River
river sediments has previously been suggested for finer sediments (Nesbitt includes predominantly two major rock types: the TTG Peninsular Gneisses

FIG. 2.—Harker variation diagram of major and trace elements for silty (open squares) and sandy (solid squares) sediments from the Kaveri floodplain. Note that for
most elements the variation in elemental abundance is simply related to dilution effect of SiO2. Na2O, K2O, Ba, and Sr show no trend, suggesting that feldspars are present
in all size fractions without any selective fractionation.
 GEOCHEMISTRY OF FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTS, SOUTHERN INDIA 55

FIG. 3.—Profile showing textural and chemical

data from floodplain sediments from two
representative sites. Note that many elements
show parallel variation with sediment mean size,
suggesting textural control.

TABLE 3.—Correlation coefficient among textural and chemical parameters for entire floodplain sediments of Kaveri River.

Mz Clay SiO2 TiO2 Al2O3 FeO MnO MgO CaO Na2O K2O P2O5 Ni Cr Ba Sr Zr Y CIA
Mz 1
Clay 0.86 1
Si O2 20.88 20.76 1
Ti O2 0.36 0.38 20.38 1
Al2O3 0.91 0.78 20.98 0.30 1
FeO 0.76 0.78 20.89 0.43 0.85 1
MnO 0.69 0.76 20.75 0.45 0.72 0.84 1
MgO 0.57 0.49 20.82 0.14 0.78 0.87 0.70 1
CaO 0.63 0.45 20.72 0.19 0.66 0.41 0.26 0.38 1
Na2O 0.56 0.34 20.69 0.26 0.62 0.35 0.26 0.37 0.90 1
K2O 0.51 0.34 20.63 0.24 0.57 0.33 0.40 0.35 0.73 0.81 1
P2O5 0.59 0.47 20.81 0.37 0.76 0.82 0.67 0.84 0.39 0.43 0.44 1
Ni 0.78 0.84 20.79 0.39 0.78 0.85 0.84 0.68 0.37 0.34 0.41 0.65 1
Cr 0.72 0.76 20.83 0.52 0.77 0.92 0.76 0.75 0.41 0.38 0.33 0.77 0.84 1
Ba 0.28 0.18 20.41 0.11 0.42 0.20 0.22 0.33 0.37 0.36 0.51 0.40 0.21 0.04 1
Sr 0.41 0.16 20.59 0.15 0.57 0.35 0.22 0.54 0.60 0.63 0.55 0.56 0.30 0.30 0.70 1
Zr 0.38 0.27 20.35 0.62 0.28 0.25 0.18 0.05 0.45 0.48 0.28 0.19 0.31 0.46 20.12 0.21 1
Y 0.86 0.86 20.90 0.49 0.87 0.92 0.83 0.74 0.53 0.47 0.44 0.73 0.88 0.92 0.18 0.38 0.41 1
CIA 0.22 0.29 20.11 20.04 0.24 0.38 0.33 0.34 20.49 20.57 20.50 0.24 0.31 0.27 20.04 20.13 20.29 0.25 1
56 P. SINGH AND V. RAJAMANI

FIG. 4.—Concentration of various elements

downstream (for almost 250 km) for silty
sediments with similar mean size. Note that no
significant change is observed in chemistry until
the last site situated on the delta (locations in the
order as shown in Figure 1).
 GEOCHEMISTRY OF FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTS, SOUTHERN INDIA 57

FIG. 6.—Comparison diagram of the average composition for silty and sandy
sediments from the floodplain. Note that higher SiO2 in sandy samples results in
lowering the concentration of other elements compared to silty sediment.

to soil and sediments, molecular proportions of Al2O3, CaO, Na2O, and

K2O were calculated from the chemical analysis. For carbonate-bearing
samples, only CaO in the silicate fraction was used. These normalized
values were plotted on an A–CN–K ternary diagram (Fig. 7) and were used
to calculate a parameter called the Chemical Index of Alteration; CIA 5
[(Al2O3 /(Al2O3 1 CaO 1 Na2O 1 K2O))*100 ] (Nesbitt and Young
1984). Average upper crustal rocks have a CIA around 50 (Fedo et al.
1995) and plot close to the plagioclase side of the plagioclase–K-feldspar
tieline in the A–CN–K diagram. The compositions of average charnockite
and gneisses from the sediment source area and that of PAAS, and the
common weathering trends, are shown in Figure 7.
In addition to chemical weathering, physical sorting of clastic sediments

FIG. 5.—Comparison diagram of the average composition of all silty sediments

from the floodplain and the average of probable source rocks, A) charnockites; B)
gneisses. Most elements plot closer to the equiline for charnockite than gneisses. Zr,
Ti, Mn, Ni, and Ba show enrichment in sediment due to sorting, and Na2O and CaO
show depletion.

and charnockites of granitic to granodioritic bulk composition. Other rock

types such as intracrustal granites and supracrustal metavolcanics and me-
tasediments are present only in minor amounts. The Peninsular Gneisses
are strongly foliated, migmatized and intruded by numerous granitic dikes
and veins, factors facilitating weathering and erosion (Sharma and Raja-
mani 2000). The charnockites and granulites, which are massive to weakly
foliated, make up most of the high hills and mountains. In order to assess
the relative contribution of the two major rock types, the average compo-
sition of silty beds of the floodplain was plotted against those of the gneiss-
es and charnockites of the region (Fig. 5A, B). The major elements plot
closer to the equiline for the charnockitic source rocks than to the gneissic
rocks. Zr, Ti, Ni, and Ba show enrichment in the sediments and Na and
Ca show depletion. Similarity in the composition of sandy sediments to
that of the silty sediments is seen in Figure 6. Except for silica, which
shows enrichment, all other elements show a small depletion in the sandy
sediment. These chemical features of the sediments in relation to their FIG. 7.—Ternary plot of A–CN–K after Nesbitt and Young (1984), of analyzed
silty sediments (open circles) and sandy sediments (black triangles) from the Kaveri
charnockitic source rocks suggest that: (1) the source rocks were not sub- River floodplain. Source rocks, charnockite (Cn) and gneisses (Gn), along with UCC
jected to prolonged and intense chemical weathering and (2) physical sort- and PAAS are also included. Most of the sediments plot in a region of relatively
ing did not result in major chemical differences in the sediments (Fig. 6). unweathered material. A, CN, and K denote molecular proportion of Al2O3,
To evaluate the extent of chemical weathering undergone by source rocks CaO1Na2O, and K2O. Arrows indicate weathering trend.
58 P. SINGH AND V. RAJAMANI
during transport and deposition can affect their chemical composition and
therefore their position in the A–CN–K plot and their CIA values (Nesbitt
et al. 1996; Nesbitt and Young 1996). If secondary clay minerals are ef-
fectively separated from the primary minerals and rock fragments during
transport and deposition, then the fine clastics should plot towards the
Al2O3 apex and the coarse debris towards the plagioclase–K–feldspar tie-
line. It is important to point out, however, that the effect of physical sorting
on the chemistry of derivative sediments would largely be determined by
the magnitude of chemical weathering. Soils formed by intense chemical
weathering of rocks would have a high proportion of secondary clay min-
erals. Physical sorting of particles derived from such soils could lead to
distinctive geochemistry of different size fractions. In contrast, physically
ground-up rock flour derived from glacial erosion cannot significantly alter
the chemistry of the deposited sediment, at least in the first cycle. Thus,
the extent of chemical weathering of source rocks determines not only the
chemistry of the soils (immediate sediment source) formed but also the
effectiveness of physical sorting on chemical fractionation, both of which
together determine the composition of sediment deposited.
The CIA values of silty sediments from the Kaveri floodplain range
between 52 and 68, and those of sandy sediments between 50 and 66. Most
of the samples from both groups plot close to the source-rock composition
and have overlapping fields (Fig.7). This implies that the source rocks
suffered only mild chemical weathering during soil formation. This low
degree of weathering is corroborated by the predominance of smectitic clay
in the clay fraction of the sediments, a clay mineral commonly found during
the initial stages of silicate weathering and/or formed in arid conditions.
DISCUSSION
All samples of silty sediments from the Kaveri flood plain have similar
mean sizes whereas the sandy sediments have a variable mean sizes along
the 250 km stretch of the river. It appears that varying energy levels of
different flood episodes affected only the texture of sandy beds whereas
the silty beds maintained similar textures until the delta region was reached.
Here sorting and reworking are more prominent and the silty beds become
more clay-rich. The lack of physical sorting of sediments into distinct silty
and sandy layers results in greater uniformity of chemical composition of
sediments in the floodplain. The sediment chemistry is, to some degree,
controlled by sediment texture. In general, there is a greater degree of
enrichment of the feldspar component in the silty sediments in the down-
stream direction, possibly because of increasing extent of quartz retention
in the river channel.
All the minerals present, including plagioclase, pyroxene, and magnetite,
are very fresh and indicate that the source regions to the sediments suffered
little chemical weathering. The sediments appear to be essentially ground-
up granitic rocks. Although some silt samples show higher CIA values
(maximum 69), indicating moderate weathering of sources, this may be due
to the presence of higher clay contents in the samples (up to ; 50%). The
uniform clay mineralogy of all the floodplain profiles studied also shows
that chemical weathering, even after deposition, has not significantly mod-
ified the composition of the sediments. This is either because of the poor
drainage of the floodplain area and/or because of the youthful age of the
deposits (oldest date obtained is , 4300 yr B.P.), and therefore, less time
of exposure even for microbial weathering. The organic carbon content in
the sediments from all the sites was found to be low (0.8–0.1 %, Singh
1999). Therefore, the sediments were not subjected to any significant pe-
dogenesis. Lack of chemical differentiation from the source rocks to the
derived sediments, which have low CIA values, and from the silty to sandy
sediments, all imply little chemical weathering of the source rocks.
Chemical weathering of rocks is an important process of soil formation
and denudation, and its rate is a function of climate, topography, tectonic
stability and structure, mineralogy, and chemistry of the bedrocks. Soil
formation is a possible feedback process. If early-formed soil is retained
on the bedrock, promoting biological activity, chemical weathering of rocks
is enhanced, which in turn promotes soil formation. On the other hand, if
erosion removes the early-formed soils (regolith) as soon as they are
formed, then both chemical weathering and soil formation are attenuated,
resulting in continual exposure of fresh rocks. Thus if the rate of physical
erosion exceeds the rate of chemical weathering, the resulting clastic sed-
iments could be chemically and mineralogically immature. This is possible
in geological terrains that are subjected to recent uplift where soil formation
is inhibited by accelerated physical erosion. The exposed rocks in the catch-
ment areas of the Kaveri River are Archean (. 2500 Ma). To supply such
immature sediments in the floodplains, they must have been uplifted and
exposed only recently, thereby inhibiting the development of mature soils.
Preliminary radiocarbon dating of the immature floodplain sediments also
indicates young ages between 4350 6 90 and 700 6 200 yr B.P. for the
sediments, supporting the idea of significant uplift and exposure of these
Archean rocks.
Southern India is known to be a mosaic of several accreted terrains,
ranging in age from 3400 to 550 Ma (Ramakrishnan 1993), with several
N–S and E–W-trending major shear and fault systems. The stress buildup
due to the Himalayan orogeny apparently has caused periodic reactivation
of shear/fault systems during the Quaternary, resulting in the formation of
many block mountains such as Nilgiris, Biligirirangan, and Shevroy hills
(Valdiya 1998). These Quaternary uplifts have been superimposed on the
plateau region of the western part of southern India (the catchment area of
the river). Interestingly, all the major hills here rising abruptly above the
planation surfaces are dominantly made up of charnockite and other gran-
ulitic rocks. Chemistry, mineralogy, the inferred source characteristics, and
the few radiocarbon age data of the floodplain sediments of the Kaveri
River support the idea of neotectonic activity of the region inferred earlier
from geomorphic and seismic evidence.
Floodplain and deltaic sediments of the Kaveri River are very fertile and
appear to have supported farming for at least the last two millennia. The
inherent fertility of agricultural soil is determined by the availability of all
essential macro and micro nutrients such as Ca, K, P, Mg, Mn, Fe, etc., as
well as the loamy feature imparted by the right proportion of sand, silt,
and clay. Because the source rocks did not undergo much chemical weath-
ering and lose the water-soluble, bio-available nutrient ions, these are still
abundant in the sediments. Formation of immature soils in a region of rapid
uplift could be one prerequisite for the creation of fertile farmland. This is
because fresh rocks are continually exposed, weathered to the extent of
physical disintegration, and the thin veneer of regolith is removed by phys-
ical erosional processes. Short transport and rapid deposition and burial in
floodplain environments cause little chemical fractionation and results in
formation of compositionally immature, fertile sediments.
One of the interesting features observed in the present study is the overall
geochemical similarity of the floodplain sediments to the PAAS (Fig. 8)
although they were deposited entirely in different environments. Minor
differences, particularly in K and Na, are likely due to the differences in
the conditions and environment of deposition. It has been shown that PAAS
is compositionally similar to exposed upper continental crust (UCC,
McLennan 1995) although there is significant enrichment of K in PAAS
relative to UCC (see Fig. 7). Several features contribute to the overall
compositional similarity of floodplain sediments to that of PAAS. The
catchment area of the river predominantly includes rocks of granodioritic
composition (charnockites as well as gneisses) that are similar to the com-
position of average UCC. Further more, these rocks have undergone only
mild to moderate chemical weathering because of continued tectonic uplift
and accompanying physical erosion. Lastly, the sediments are relatively
unsorted because of reximixing of all size fractions at times of flooding. It
is known that during flooding hydrodynamically similar minerals are picked
up together and deposited as floodplain sediments. Because of high-energy
conditions at the time of floods, even particles up to fine sand size are
easily picked up in suspension and deposited. This process results in si-
 GEOCHEMISTRY OF FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTS, SOUTHERN INDIA
FIG. 8.—Comparison diagram of the average for silty sediment and PAAS. The
diagonal line represents equal composition.
multaneous deposition of both fine (dominantly mafic) and coarse (domi-
nantly felsic) particles causing a textural and mineralogical remixing of
clastics in the floodplain sediments. We suggest that such remixing leads
to compositional similarity of the flood plain sediments to that of their
sources, provided that chemical weathering in the source was minimal.
Therefore floodplain sediments may be good indicators of provenance be-
cause they represent an average chemistry, unlike the purely suspended
material and purely bedload sediment, which show mafic and felsic bias,
respectively, and therefore may provide misleading information on prove-
nance (Stewart 1993; Nesbitt and Young 1996). We also observe in the
present study that fine-grained sediment samples have more mafic com-
ponents, as mentioned earlier.
CONCLUSIONS
Textural, mineralogical, and geochemical data on silty and sandy sedi-
ments of the Kaveri floodplain and that of the river-bed sediments suggest
that (1) a lack of physical sorting by the river during flooding results in
deposition of sediments containing all size fractions which effects a texture
and a chemistry intermediate between that of the suspended and the river-
bed sediment, (2) the intermediate chemistry of floodplain sediments elim-
inates the mafic and felsic biases imposed on suspended and bedload due
to mineralogical sorting, and thus resembles more the source-rock com-
position, (3) some floodplain sediments may be good indicators of the
composition of the average upper continental crust at least in the region
where source rocks have not undergone much chemical weathering, and
(4) the catchment region for the river has undergone tectonic uplift in
geologically recent times, exhuming Archean deep crustal rocks (char-
nockites) and exposing them to physical weathering and denudation. The
formation of fertile farmland along the course of Kaveri River and its delta
is related to these recent geological processes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported by a grant from the Council of Scientific and Indus-
trial Research, New Delhi to V.R. and by a doctoral fellowship to P.S. from the
University Grant Commission. We appreciate the useful review provided by Drs.
G.M. Young and Philip Fralick.
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Received 15 June 1999; accepted 28 April 2000.