Application of Parameterized Grain-Size Endmember Modeling in the Study of Quaternary Oxbow Lake Sedimentation: A Case Study of Tövises Bed Sediments in the Eastern Great Hungarian Plain

Abstract

Abandoned channels are essential in the Quaternary floodplains, and their infill contains different paleoenvironment recorders. Grain-size distribution (GSD) is one proxy that helps characterize the alluviation and associated sedimentological processes of the abandoned channels. The classic statistical methods of the grain-size analysis provide insufficient information on the whole distribution; this necessitates a more comprehensive approach. Grain-size endmember modeling (EMM) is one approach beyond the traditional procedures that helps unmix the GSDs. This study describes the changes in the depositional process by unmixing the GSDs of a Holocene abandoned channel through parameterized EMM integrated with lithofacies, age–depth model, loss-on-ignition (LOI), and magnetic susceptibility (MS). This approach effectively enabled the quantification and characterization of up to four endmembers (EM1-4); the characteristics of grain-size endmembers imply changes in sedimentary environments since 8000 BP. EM1 is mainly clay and very fine silt, representing the fine component of the distribution corresponding to the background of quiet water sedimentation of the lacustrine phase. EM2 and EM3 are the intermediate components representing the distal overbank deposits of the flood. EM4 is dominated by coarse silt and very fine sand, representing deposition of overbank flow during the flood periods. This paper demonstrates that the parametrized grain-size EMM is reasonable in characterizing abandoned channel infill sedimentary depositional and sedimentation history.

Characterizing sedimentary processes in abandoned channel using compositional data analysis and wavelet transform

“…The laser grain size analysis of the pretreated sediment core samples was conducted at one-cm intervals for 42 grain-size classes from 0.1 to 500 μm for 346 samples (Eltijani and Molnár 2023) using Easysizer20 (OMEC), available at the Department of Geology and Paleontology, University of Szeged, Hungary. The analysis routine and sample treatment are based on (Konert and Vandenberghe 1997) intervals offering 346 samples (Eltijani et al 2022a) (Fig. 1).…”

“…The 14 C chronology was based on AMS dates from six samples (Eltijani et al 2022a) analyzed at the International Radiocarbon AMS Competence and Training Center (INTERACT), Debrecen, Hungary. The age-depth model based on Bayesian statistics was constructed using R bacon 2.5.8 in R language version 4.1.3 (Blaauw and Christeny, 2011).…”

“…Grain size distribution (GSD) is a proxy that provides insights into the transport processes and depositional history of abandoned channels. GSDs of fluvial sediments are generally polymodal, with many overlapping individual grain size populations (Collinson and Lewin 1983;Hooke 1995;Eltijani et al 2022a) deposited by different processes within the same environment (Sun et al 2002).…”

“…To address the constraint of GSD, (Eltijani et al 2022b) employed compositional data analysis (CoDA) and Euclidean data analysis (EuDA) coupled with PCA and CA to examine GSD of a Quaternary abandoned channel located in the southeast Great Hungarian Plain. In the CoDA approach, the raw GSDs were transformed using the centered log-ratio (clr) transformation.…”

Deciphering Depositional Environment of Playa Lakes Using Grain Size Parameters in the Arid and Semi-Arid Region of Rajasthan, India

“…This design aims to take advantage of the genetic information in a group of GSDs to produce unimodal end-members. The General Weibull Distribution function (Equation ( 5)) used for parameterization [52,53] has a general form as follows:…”