Abstract:
The study was conducted to determine elemental contents, mineral contents and
sedimentological characteristics of Merang coastal sediments. The sediments were
collected from 17 stations by using Smith McIntyre grab. The sediments were
analyzed by using three methods; Scanning Electron Microscope - Energy Dispersive
X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) for elemental contents analysis, X-ray Power
Diffraction (XRD) for mineral contents and dry sieve method for sedimentological
characteristics analysis. The result of SEM-EDS analysis showed that quartz is the
dominant mineral in all stations (62.32 %). Besides, the result of XRD peaks also
showed that quartz is the dominant mineral in every station. Based on the result of
hydrometer analysis, there were two textures of sediment that were identified which
are sand and loamy sand. The group of sand texture was mostly found at nearshore
area (Stations 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 and 15). However, loamy sand texture was found
at offshore area (Stations 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 13, 16 and 17).
