10. Slow-scanning, 20° to 28° 20— This was 

 undertaken to resolve the presence or absence of 

 kaolinite and chlorite (Biscaye, 1964, p. 1282). 

 For this treatment KCl saturated specimens were 

 considered. 



11. HCl treatment — Aliquots of each parti- 

 cle size from samples KRl and CR7 were sub- 

 jected to treatment with IN HCl at 80°C for 24 

 hours, and then analyzed by X-ray diffraction, 

 using "slow-scanning" procedure. This method 

 afforded the verification of the presence or ab- 

 sence of chlorite and kaolinite in the clays (Bis- 

 caye, 1964, p. 1284). 



Pierce and Siegel (1969) have discussed at 

 length the problems encountered with respect to 

 attempts at quantifying clay mineral analyses. 

 For samples under detailed study, we determined 

 following the suggestion of Pierce and Siegel 

 (1969) the areas of various diffraction peaks of 

 interest, and tabulated these as our basic data.* 

 We have also calculated various ratios of peak 

 areas of interest, and used these in attempting to 

 elucidate clay mineral relationships. However, to 

 compare our gross clay mineral data (in the <2/U, 

 e.s.d. size) with those of other areas of the world 

 we have used the method of attempting to quantify 

 clay mineral analysis given by Biscaye (1965). 



Total Fe, Mn, Ca. Mg, K, Na, Li, Rb, Cu, and 

 Co were anlayzed by atomic absorption spec- 

 trometry, using a Perkin-Elmer, Model 303 unit. 

 Sample preparation and analytical procedure were 

 similar to those described by Naidu and Hood 

 (1972). Accuracy of the elemental analysis was 

 checked by analyzing U.S.G. S. standard rocks 

 G-2 and AGV-1, and comparing the results with 

 those compiled by Flanagan (1969). The preci- 

 sion in the major elemental analysis was better 

 than ± 4%, and for Cu and Co it was about ± 

 12%. Organic carbon was determined in a Beck- 

 man disperse-beam infrared analyzer, following 

 the analytical steps outlined by Loder (1971). 

 Precision and accuracy of the organic carbon 

 analysis are better than ± 5% and 11%, respec- 

 tively. Carbonate in sediments was analyzed by 

 the rapid gasometric method (Hiilsemann, 1966). 



RESULTS 



Textural Analysis 



*Basic data (jblainable from the authors upon request. 



The gravel, sand, silt, and clay percentages of 

 the sediments are presented in Table 1. The ma- 

 jority of the sediments is either sands, silty-sands 

 or, have equal proportions of sand, silt, and clay. 

 There are only a few samples that have more than 

 1% gravel; the weight percentages of gravel in 

 samples AJT22, AJT29 and KRl are 3.84, 24.1 

 and 12.7, respectively. No marked vertical varia- 

 tions in the lithology were observed in short (0.3 

 to 0.8 meter) cores. 



The proportions of gravel-sand, silt, and clay 

 in the sediments of the continental margin under 

 study are plotted in a triangular diagram (Figure 

 3), and similar plots of sediments collected from 

 various environments of the Beaufort Sea are also 

 illustrated for comparison. No significant differ- 

 ence in the distribution of the plots is apparent for 

 the continental margin and the Beaufort Sea shelf 

 sediments. However, comparison of the size 

 analysis data in Table 1 and that presented by 

 Burrell et al. (1970) distinctly shows that on the 

 basis of gravel contents offshore deltaic and non- 

 deltaic shelf sediments have different lithologies. 

 The deltaic sediments, as mentioned earlier, 

 rarely have gravels, whereas 72% of the shelf 

 sediments of the Beaufort Sea do contain gravels. 



Grain-size statistical parameters included in 

 Table 1 show that sediments of Hairison Bay, 

 Simpson Lagoon and the adjacent shallow marine 

 environment have similar size distributions. 



The relationships between Phi Mean Size (M^) 

 and Sorting {(J\), and Mz and Skewness (Sk|) of 

 sediments are illustrated in the form of scatter- 

 plots (Figures 4 and 5). In these figures plots of 

 the far offshore sediments of the Beaufort Sea are 

 also included for comparison. There are definite 

 clusterings of plots for the different environ- 

 ments, although some overlapping of field of the 

 plots for the deltaic, nondeltaic shelf ( <64m) and 

 extrashelf (<64m) sediments is evident. The 

 trends of the plots for all sediments except those 

 of the Colville River show that there is a broad 

 sinusoidal relationship between Phi Mean Size 

 and Sorting (Figure 4). However, no trend is 

 apparent between Phi Mean Size and Skewness 

 values of sediments for individual environments. 



243 



