ABSTRACT

Application of the method of moments to size distribution characteristics of Recent sediments in western Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, and vicinity indicate that the sign of skewness is environmentally sensitive. A winnowing action produced by fluid media is the mechanism producing negative skewness. Sediments of beaches, the littoral zone, and tidal inlets are negatively skewed. Sediments from a sheltered lagoon filling with sedimentary material are dominantly positively skewed. Where winnowing action can be shown to be operative intermittently, sediments are characterized by local differences in sign of skewness. The sensitivity of skewness to several environments in the western Pamlico Sound area strongly supports similar conclusions reached by Mason and Folk (1958) and Friedman ( 961) who studied different areas.

Preliminary studies of the comparison of results obtained using the same data in different formulae indicate the sign of skewness is reproducible. As a reproducible parameter, skewness sign should be directly applicable to studies of Recent sediments elsewhere, and used with other criteria it should be valuable in the interpretation of paleoenvironments, particularly in those sediments where effects of diagenesis are negligible or non-existent.