Significance of skewness in recent sediments, western Pamlico Sound, North Carolina

Abstract

Abstract Mechanical analyses of Recent sediments in western Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, indicate negative skewness for sediments from beaches, littoral zone, tidal inlets, and tidal deltas, dominantly positive skewness for sheltered-lagoon sediments, and local variations in skewness sign where sediments are intermittently winnowed. As a reproducible parameter, skewness sign should be applicable to studies of Recent sediments elsewhere and, with other criteria, to interpretation of paleoenvironments.