Distribution of textural parameters of surficial sediments in the Bay of Chetumal: Implications for the inference of transport

Abstract

The grain-size trend analysis (grain size, sorting and asymmetry) was determined from 43 stations to identify the path of sediment transport in the Chetumal Bay, Quintana Roo. The analysis of principal components and grain size trend analysis were applied to sediment textural parameters. It was established that better sorted sedimentary material is associated with stations with fine grain-size and vice versa. Vectors transport suggests a net transport of sediment in the direction S-SE and S-SW (for the sampling period), which is consistent with the direction of the surface and deep currents in the Chetumal Bay. The preferential deposition of fine and well-sorted material in the central part of the bay has excellent correlation with the contents of anthropogenic pollutants found in other studies.