ABSTRACT

As a further investigation of the sediments of the central Texas coast bays, heavy minerals in the sand-size fraction of the sediment samples were studied. The application of statistical analysis to heavy mineral studies by using chi-square to test for homogeneity of samples is shown. It was possible to divide the bays into areas where the relative amounts of heavy minerals were statistically homogeneous, and in the case of a bay with simple bottom configuration and sediment type it was possible to correlate the grain size distribution of the sediments with relative amounts of heavy minerals. This relationship, however, did not hold for a more complex bay. The accuracy of the laboratory procedures was investigated. The mineralogical differences between the various areas are probably r al and not due to errors in laboratory methods. The heavy mineral distribution also showed that ranch of the sand-size sediment was carried into the bays from the barrier islands.