Name: Kim R.

Maningo BSMB – II Date Performed: February 06, 2020 Score:

Lab Instructor: Mrs. Julissah C. Evangelio Date Submitted: March 02, 2020
EXERCISE 5
SEDIMENT SAMPLING AND ASSESSMENT
INTRODUCTION

Sediment is solid material that is moved to a new location and deposited there. The

sediment can consist of rocks and minerals, as well as plant and animal remains. It may be as

small as a sand grain, or as big as a boulder [ CITATION Rut11 \l 13321 ]. One location that

sediments could be deposited are in coastal areas. Beaches are made up of sediments of varying

sizes, from large rocks to fine sand or mud. Erosion occurs when sediments are removed by

wind, rain, or waves from a particular location while deposition occurs when sediments are

added to a site [ CITATION Cap \l 13321 ].

Analysis of sediments is based primarily on the identification of the key sedimentary

elements, including recognizing heavy minerals and clay minerals for provenance analysis

[CITATION Mul11 \l 13321 ]. Studies on provenance include identifying the lithological origins of

sediments and/or sedimentary rocks [ CITATION Maz17 \l 13321 ]

OBJECTIVES

1. To identify the sediment types in selected areas in Pangasugan, VSU and Guadalupe Beach,

Baybay City, Leyte

2. To differentiate the grain size of the sediments collected from the Pangasugan, VSU and

Guadalupe Beach, Baybay City, Leyte

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sediment Sampling
 The sediment collection for the exercise was conducted during the Exercise 4 field work.

The sediments were collected using container bottles, with uniform volume, and photographs

were also taken of the locations where the sediments were extracted. The sediments were

collected at the site where the Emery rods were installed, so at each one-meter interval sediments

were collected. For visual comparison, the sediments were compared with the grain size

comparator. The sediments collected for assessment were brought into the laboratory.

Sediment Assesment

Running water thoroughly washed the sediments that were collected to remove salts

found in the sediments, dried up and weighed first before sieving. A sieve stack with mesh sizes

of 425 μm, 250 μm and 38 μm was prepared and the pre-weighed sediments were placed in the

sieve at the top of the sieve, which is 425 μm. Instead, the sediments were manually shaken for

15 minutes. The collected sediments were moved into paper containers in each sieve, and then

weighed. An image was taken at every size of the grain. The sediments were then seen under a

binocular microscope, and minerals were measured from the sediment sample. Images, such as

the horizontal cross-section of the site, were also taken at each site.

RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION

Table 1: Sediment type composition of different sediment samples

Sediment Composition
Site of Collection
Color Possible Minerals found
Pangasugan Black Magnettite, Quartz, Feldspar
VSU Black Magnetite, Quartz, Feldspar
Guadalupe Black Magnetite

The table above displays the sediment type which includes the color and the possible

minerals present based on their color of the samples from Pangasugan, VSU, and Guadalupe

beaches. With an initial look, it can be inferred that the dominant color reflecting the sediment
was black in all of the sediment samples. As further examined under a binocular microscope,

there where sediments that are observed to have metallic and vitreous luster in which the

characteristic of magnetite and quartz, respectively. This led to a conclusion that the sediments

contain magnetite and quartz. The sediments also contained pink and yellow crytals which is a

physical property of most of feldspar thus the sediments possibly could have the said mineral,

too. Statements above applies to both samples from Pangasugan and VSU beaches however, the

researchers were unable to collect sample from the Guadalupe beach thus there is no established

possible mineral based on the examination under a microscope but with physical observations

from the photography the sediments were also black which could also indicate the presence of

magnetite.

Table 2: Mass of Sediments based on their sizes

Mesh Size ≥ 425 µm 425 µm > 250 µm < 38 µm ≤ 38 µm

Pangasugan 1878.5 g or 17.0 g or 34.5 g or
1.8785 kg 0.0170 kg 0.0345 kg
VSU 1463.7 g or 108.3 g or 27.1 g or
1.4637 kg 0.1083 kg 0.0271 kg
Guadalupe - - -

Pangasugan VSU Guadalupe

2 1.88
1.46
Sediment Mass (kg)

1.5

0.5
0 0.02 0.11 0 0.03 0.03 0
0
≥ 425 µm 425 µm > 250 µm < 38 ≤ 38 µm
µm
Sediment Size

Figure 1. Mass of sediments based upon thier sizes

The figure above shows the comparison of the mass of each size or size range of the

sediment samples. As observed in the above figure, the size that has the most mass is ≥ 425 µm
with 1.8785 kg and 1.4637 kg values for Pangasugan and VSU beaches, respectively. This is due

to the dominant size of the sediment which are mostly gravel to cobbles which cannot pass

through the 425µm-meshed sieve. Of those can pass through have the mass values of 0.0170 kg

and 0.1083 kg for Pangasugan and VSU beach, respectively. Surprisingly, the mass of ≤ 38 µm

sediment of Pangasugan beach has greater mass than 425 µm > 250 µm < 38 µm sediments

which is 0.0345 kg. On contrary wise, the ≤ 38 µm has lesser in the VSU beach with 0.0271 kg.

Again, there was no established mass of a sample from the Guadalupe beach because of the lack

of containers.

Table 3: Comparison of Grain sizes of the sediment samples

Size
Site
425 μm 250 μm 38 μm

Pangasugan

VSU

5 cm
< < cm
10 425 µm

< 425
10 cm 5 <cm
 Point 19 Point 23
Figure 2. Sediments in Guadalupe Beach

Sediments found in each site have compositional similarities,which can be seen in the

table 4 and Figure 2. The sediment sizes and color are quite similar. Guadalupe site has no

sediment size distinction with those that may be separated with a sieve due to the inability to

collect sediment samples, so only photographs of certain site points are given. Sediments at

beach in Guadalupe are a combination of different sediments with different sizes and

composition. In the field, it was observed that larger rocks were situated near the shoreline of

Pangasugan decreases in size as they pass further backshore. However, compared to the

sediments in Pangasugan, the sediments in VSU and Guadalupe are relatively finer and the

sediments further Guadalupe could be finer which could basically be the trend.

DISCUSSION

Sand grains are formed as abiogenic, or "lithogenic" (litho= stone), rocks break down

through weathering and erosion. Abiogenic sands may be formed from the continental crust

rocks or from the earth's oceanic crust. The continental crust covers most of the world's major

landmasses. Mountains consisting mostly of granite in the continental crust. Mineral sands

produced by the granite breakdown typically contain quartz, feldspar, mica, and magnetite.

Minerals are solid substances composed of a single chemical compound which occur

naturally[ CITATION Exp1 \l 13321 ].

 Sources of beach sediments may came from offshore and may also be river-derived

depending to the composition of the sediments. [ CITATION Sir20 \l 13321 ] As seen in the results of

the exercise, beach sediments in Pangasugan, VSU and Guadalupe were observed to have

dominantly black in color. Further assessment led to concluding that these have mineral

magnetite, quartz and feldspar. They are the characteristics of a river-driven sediments. The areas

are situated west of Mount Pangasugan, which can be a significant source of igneous rock which

are the origin of the minerals magnetite, quartz and feldspar. Rocks and other detrital weathered

from the mountains are transported through the erosion by rivers located between the three

locations namely Lago-lago and Calbiga-a river.

With regards to the sizes of the sediments, the possible factors that may have affected

them could be the waves, currents and slope of the beach. High-energy waves with longer

wavelengths generally produce beach surfaces with a grain size distribution that is relatively

similar, or homogeneous. Lower energy waves with smaller wavelengths tend to produce beach

surfaces with a more mixed, or heterogeneous, distribution of grain size. Beaches exposed to

high-energy waves mostly have larger sediments than those exposed to lower-energy

waves[ CITATION Exp1 \l 13321 ] . The areas of study were observed to have varying sizes thus they

belong to the beaches that receives lower energy waves. The size of the sand grains is related to

the beach slope. The steeper the beach for example, the bigger the sand grain size appears to be.

This is because the waves on steep beaches will throw larger particles closer to the beach. Sand

grains, however, appear to be rolled back and forth on flatter beaches, and broken into smaller

pieces[ CITATION Exp1 \l 13321 ] . With regards to the previous exercise (Beach Profiling) the

beaches have steep slopes thus have bigger sediments. Wave-induced currents such as longshore

currents flow parallel and close to the shoreline. They redistribute sediments along the coast
[ CITATION Sir20 \l 13321 ] . Those sediments that are light enough to be carried by the current

which are mostly fine will be transported but those that are not carried by the current are those

large in size thus affecting the variation of sizes of sediments in a beach.

On some beaches the composition of sand grain varies with distance from the sea. A

larger proportion of finer, smaller grains of sand may be pushed higher by waves or wind up the

beach, whereas larger, coarser grains are deposited closer to the water[ CITATION Exp1 \l 13321 ].

CONCLUSION

Sediments in selected areas of Pangasugan, VSU and Guadalupe Beach are mostly of

black color with mix of gray and brown. Upon assessment of their sediment samples led to a

conclusion that they contain minerals magnetite, quartz, and feldspar. Mineral components

indicate that they are river-driven or they came from weathered rocks from mountains

specifically Mount Pangasugan. Sediments in Pangasugan Beach have larger size compared to

the sediments in VSU and Guadalupe beaches and onwards.

RECOMMENDATION

The researchers would like to recommend in future sediment sampling and assessment

exercises to provide enough container jars in order to collect sediments from all sites. If the

number of container lacks, it is also suggested by the researchers to make makeshift containers

such as what they have done using reused plastic bags. Moreover, they suggest that all of the

sieves in progressively smaller mesh size should be utilized for more specified separation of

sediment size.

REFERENCES
Capital Regional District Editors. (n.d.). Coastal Sediment Processes. Retrieved from Capital
Regional District: https://www.crd.bc.ca/education/our-environment/geology-
processes/coastal-sediment
Exploring Our Fluid Earth Editors. (n.d.). Beaches and Sand. Retrieved from Exploring Our
Fluid Earth: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/coastal-
interactions/beaches-and-sand
Mazumder, R. (2017). Sediment Provenance. Sarawak: Candice Janco.
Mulder, T. (2011). Developments in Sedimentology. Elsevier Science.
Rutledge, K., Ramroop, T., Bondreau, D., McDaniel, M., Teng, S., Sprout, E., . . . Hunt, J.
(2011, June 4). Sediment. Retrieved from National Geographic:
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/sediment/
Siringan, F. (2020). Coastal Erosion Management Training Workshop. Quezon City: UPMSI,
Diliman.