Distinguishing different sedimentary facies in a deltaic system

An attempt has been made to differentiate sedimentary facies in a modern deltaic system by means of grain-size characteristics of the Ganga alluvial plain of West Bengal, India. Three main energy environments (marine, mixed and riverine) comprising the delta were considered. Sand samples were collected from rivers (both tidal and non-tidal), coastal dunes, beaches and tidal flats of the deltaic plain. The grain-size distribution patterns were compared with the two model distributions of log-normal and log-skew-Laplace. Different sedimentary facies were identified by discriminant functions. The analytical results indicate that the energy gradient of the different sedimentary facies of the deltaic system is well reflected by the grain-size characteristics of the individual facies. While critically analyzing the role of different textural parameters in discriminating the individual facies associations, it is observed that the mean size, alpha (slope of coarser fractions of Laplace model) and skewness have greater potential to distinguish different sedimentary facies of the deltaic system. The results of discriminant analysis might be applicable to paleo-environmental interpretation of a deltaic system by distinguishing the individual facies associations. [Display omitted] •Different sedimentary facies of the Ganga delta identified.•A three-tier methodology adopted.•In the first-tier, best-fit statistical grain-size discrimination model adopted.•In the second-tier, multiple mean comparisons among textural parameters analyzed.•In the last-tier, a discriminate model hypothesized.