Spatial and temporal variability of titanomagnetite placer deposits on a predominantly black sand beach

Titanomagnetite forms rich placer deposits along the northwest coast of New Zealand. These deposits were sampled along 3 shore-normal transects spaced over the southern 2 km of a dissipative high-energy beach on the west coast in 5 field campaigns covering one year. The percentage of opaque minerals (mainly titanomagnetite) was extremely high in the upper 30 m of the beach face, extending seaward where these opaque minerals were gradually replaced with variable amounts of lighter augite, hornblende and plagioclase. The pattern appeared to be divided into two regions, a lower seaward and an upper landward region, separated by a point where either marine dominated over aeolian processes or where swash dominated over breaking processes. In the seaward region, the percentage of opaques increased and particle size fined landward as undertow removed the lighter larger particles seaward. In the landward region, the percentage of opaques and particle size were more constant, or even showed the reverse pattern as wind transported the lighter material shoreward, or swash asymmetry transported the heavier material seaward. The similarity of settling velocities over the whole beach face suggests that sorting by size rather than weight plays a dominant role in separating the mineral assemblages. Considerable variations existed between transects. This could be explained by the spatial changes in surfzone waves and currents that were associated with proximity to the southern headland and various rip current channels that characterised this dissipative site. Surprisingly, the percentage of opaques decreased when the wave conditions of the day of sampling were more energetic. In contrast to many other placer deposits, these deposits are abundant on the beach face, forming an armouring layer during lower wave energy conditions. During higher wave conditions, the surface layer erodes allowing lighter augite, plagioclase and hornblende to be released from the sediments below.