Evaluation of Tracing Ability of Clay Minerals in Discrimination of Sediment Origin in Drainage Basins (Case Study: Amrovan and Atary Catchments of Semnan)

Due to diversity، high frequency and transportation as suspended materials، clay minerals can be used as sediment source indicators in drainage basins. In this study، clay minerals were used in Amrovan and Atary catchments، Semnan Province، Iran. To identify clay minerals، X-ray diffraction analyses were used. By performing four different treatments on the samples (K، KT، MG، MGG)، the respective graphs were obtained. To determine the percentage of each clay mineral، the area-under-a-curve method was used. Finally، the potential of each clay mineral in differentiation of sediment sources was determined using Kruskal-Wallis and Discrimination Function Analysis (DFA) statistical tests. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that all characteristics were below critical probable amounts، and، therefore، are suitable for differentiating sediment sources. Smectite is a clay mineral with the highest differentiation ability. It correctly classified 57. 5 % and 62 % of samples in the Amrovan and Atary Catchments، respectively. The results also showed that the combination of source indicator characteristics increases the differentiation ability of the characteristics up to 72. 5 % in the Amrovan catchment and 76 % in the Atary catchment.