3.

4 BAR AND INTER-BAR FACIES

Bar and inter-bar are the integral part of the coastal environment and response to maintain the delicate equilibrium between supply and removal of the sediments. They are generally associated with micro-tidal to meso-tidal coastline where wave activity is relative high. Bars are generally characterized by the presence of a beach on their sea facing side, because wave collides and dies out there. These beaches are detached from the main land and are known as land-detached beaches. Moreover they usually have a protected or marshy environment in behind them in the landward direction. Top of the bar is characterized by Aeolian sediment.

Different types of bar

Bars are classified into different categories. These are -

SPITS:-They leave the main coastline, usually at the estuary mouth or bay, and projects
in deep water before terminating.

CUSPATE FORELAND:-They leave coastline and run seaward at an angle before

returning to meet the coast once more, usually associated with the off shore shoals.

TOMBOLOS:-If offshore island is present, tombolos, running from the main coast to the
island, may form.

BARRIER ISLAND:-They differ from other in that they are totally detached from the
main shoreline. Barrier island may be lunate or lingoid shaped.

The different arguments about the formation of these land forms??

Bars are generally formed when rivers carried much amount sediments and dumped them quickly.

If the wave approach to a head land is an oblique angle or if the bay is deeply indented into the coast then the long shore power gradient would suffer a major discontinuity in the shadow zone of the head land. At this point sudden decrease in the long shore power gradient cause rapid accretion of sediment and a result sands are accumulated in an outward direction from shore forming spit.

If an obstruction is present in the way of the wave, then wave shadow zone is formed as a result of wave refraction around the obstruction and its submarine continuation. Sand generally accumulates in this wave shadow zone. This results in formation of Cuspate foreland or Tombolos type bars. The long shore extension of spits which are subsequently broken through by the storm waves can form bars totally detached from the main land, generally barrier-island (Gilbert, 1885, Fisher, 1968). During the last post glacial period sea-transgression, sediments were swept towards the present day coast line. Accumulations of these sediments are results in Barrier Island and associated bar type. (Sheppard, 1963) Off-shore bars, mainly the barrier islands are result of the drawing of sand dunes or beach berm feature during last sea transgression (Hoyt, 1967). The processes, which is responsible for the sediment supply and formation of these bar is the removal of sediments which in turn, is largely controlled by the slope of the shore and its seaward continuation. If the slope of the beach is steep, to archive an equilibrium profile, the sediments are removed from the landward portion and transported offshore forming a gentle and stable slope. Again if the slope is gentle, it favors sediments accumulation in the landward side and thus slope becomes steeper. The surface is, therefore, being continuously reworked and in such a way that at each point it tends to acquire just the right slope to ensure that incoming sediment supply can be carried away as fast as it received and thus a state of balance is maintained.

In Chandipur, two different milieus can be included within the category: The bar at the far end of tidal flat.

The bar at the proximity of the beach, towards the mouth of Buribalam River.

Most of the work at Chandipur has been carried out on proximal bar. This bar is characterized by presence of beach in the seaward side and a protected marshy environment in the landward side. The orientation of the bar is parallel to the direction of wave approach in estuary mouth and later it become parallel to the shoreline and it terminates before reaching shoreline. River driven sediments are dropped along river bank and forms longitudinal bar. But at seaward side due to wave action it becomes parallel to shore. According to the characters and shape (see map) it may be called a spit. As mentioned above, this is formed as a result of wave refraction and consequent sedimentation type. Storm waves that roll material over to sheltered surface and in this processes the bar tends to migrate landward. Another barrier bar is present, completely detouched from the main land and sinusoidal in shape. Lunate bars are those which are convex upcurrent. At first lunate bar is formed. The dry sediment present at top part transports longer distance than the wet sediment of flanks. So gradually it becomes a lingoid bar (convex down current). May be the bar is in intermediate stage. So it is sinusoidal in shape. Lunate Lingoid

There is also an incipient bar, which get exposed during low tide. SURFACE FEATURES:Spit Bar
The bar top is dominated by wind activity. The wind activity has produced many small scale Aeolian features. These features are:-

IMPACT RIPPLE

Impact ripples have low relief and they form from the coarser grained fraction of the sand upon which they develop. They have a high ripple index, and rather straight and continuous crest lines transverse to the wind direction and upon which the coarsest grains are concentrated. Ripple wavelength increases with the duration of the wind action on flattened surface, up to a limit fixed by sediment sorting, the coarse grains accumulating on the ripple crests. Wavelength also grows with general sediment coarseness and with an increasing textural disparity between creeping and salting loads. Increasing of wind speed causes wavelength grow, but also makes ripple flatter. The ripples are slightly asymmetrical in profile. Their lee faces are inclined at low angles below the angle of rest. With impact ripples, the controlling factor on their form and development is the behavior of sand grains are relatively massive, impacting particles. Under wind shear, grain move principally by saltation, the length of trajectory being directly proportional to wind speed. Grains hitting the upwind side are likely to bounce or set other grains in motion, whereas the lower angle of incidence of grains hitting the downwind side favours their trapping. Ripples spacing compares closely with trajectory length & therefore varies with wind speed. Larger grains move by creep and become concentrated towards the ripple crest.

Impact ripple

Aerodynamic ripple

AERODYNAMIC RIPLE
Aerodynamic ripples are low relief features with a high ripple form index but commonly with a more three dimensional form than impact ripples. Morphological features tend to be elongated parallel to the wind direction. These ripples often occur superimposed on impact ripples, giving quite subtle interference patterns of grid-iron or fish-scale type. They are less abundant than impact ripples on the bar top. Aerodynamic ripples have a slight asymmetric form in profile with lee face inclined at the very low angle.

Setulf Structures
They are positive relief structures resembling flutes. Their long axes are parallel to the direction of wind flow with pointed ends on the up current sides. They form due accumulation of wind borne grains of sand on the lee of any obstacle in the path of the wind. Their tails point landward. Setulf structures are just opposite to the flutes as the name itself signifies. They are the depositional features where wind deposits particles over an obstacle. The obstacles may be shale fragments, pellets or sand particles. The constancy of the wind direction is important in formation of setulf structures.

ADHESION MARKS
It is characterized by entrapped loose sand particles covering underlying wet surface. When dry sand, silt or dust is blown across wet surface some grains stick to the surface on impact. Capillary rise of water or crystallization in many cases help to trap further grains by consistent wetting. The thin salt moistures adapt a hemispherical blister like shape which is hollow beneath. Sometimes ripple like surfaces develop windblown sand and dust adverse to hygroscopic surfaces of blisters. The blisters themselves may be breeched and infilled by sand grains. Their irregular surfaces were covered by variable thickness of sand to form adhesion ripples with irregular amplitude. Steep side of the ripples tends to occur in the upwind direction. They have low preservation as drying up they collapsed and reworked. These are found exposed near the wet surface and had very low amplitude and wave length.

Adhesion marks

MUD BALLS
In Chandipur mud balls are found abundantly on the sea ward flank of the bar and near interbar swamp though they are not genetically related to bar. Armored mud balls are mechanically accreted primary structures. They are large, elliptical to sub-spherical balls of clay that are coated or armored with fine gravel and fragments of shell. During the high tide level the mud is scooped by chunks, which then roll over to form a ball like structure. They are oriented either parallel or at angle to shoreline.

Ripples
In the bar area asymmetrical ripples were found most ripples are aligned in a particular direction. Ripples are mainly formed by sand and they are lack of mud. Grains are coarser than the grains of tidal flat.

Flat top ripple

Flat top Ripple

These ripples are of shallow origin. The crests may be curved or straight crested but the crest is flattened due to high flow shear. During ebb tide the ripple crests get liquefied, flattened and deformed.

TRAIL MARKS OF ORGANISM

Trail marks of crabs and birds found abundantly on the bar flank region. Burrows on the top of the bars are larger, inclined landward. But near the sea it becomes smaller and vertical.

Crab burrow Barrier Bar

As it is newly formed bar so Aeolian features are not common here. Seaward side of the bar is steeper than landward side. It shows sinusoidal shape as it is in its intermediate stage of formation. On the surface the bar shows various features of a wave-dominated beach environment with prominent swash and backwash ripples. Mudballs were also seen oriented parallel, perpendicular or oblique to the shoreline.

The bar is regularly inundated twice a day during high tide and its seaward side is its contact with the tidal flat. The landward side of the bar shows signatures of a calmer tidal environment with rhombic ripples and current crescents opening towards away from the sea. This is because when the water recedes in the landward side, its sense of movement is exactly the opposite to that of the direction of movement of the low tide. Lunate and linguoid ripples were also prominent. In the landward side, the sediments become more and more muddy and ultimately merges with the lagoonal facies.

Assymetric ripple In the bar flank, there were many dunes and as the flanks were of lower elevation than the central part of the bar, the proportion of mud is more there, and the flanks migrate at a slower rate. Here sedimentation occurs by suspension fall and

the layers are finely laminated and sinusoidal as they represent the lee side of a large dune. SUBSURFACE FEATURES
To study the subsurface features of the bar we dug trenches on the bar flank and on the bar top.

Bar Flank:
The trench on the bar flank shows alternative dark and light colored laminae. The lamina show low scale Cross stratification. A portion of the dark laminae shows flaser bedding. The sand layer at bottom shows cross stratification and is possibly a bar. Burrows are present here like back shore environment. The top most layer is also sandy, but the sand is light coloured than the underlying layer. This layer is mud rich at the bottom and has low angle cross bedding. It also probably belongs to a bar. Hence, the section reveals two superimposed bar bodies, with no swamp sediments in between.

INTER BAR FACIES In between the incipient bar and the new bar there is a narrow embayment, through which sea water comes behind the bar during high tide. As the embayment becomes narrower tide comes with more velocity. During high tide water enters into land and during ebb tide

it returns back forming a small delta like feature. Here reverse grading is observed in cross section. In the seaward side of the older bar as we move towards Budibalam river there are some tongue like projection of very cohesive mud. This feature is interpreted as evidence of older bar. Due to transgression of sea wave action erode the noncohesive sediment. But wave cannot erode highly cohesive mud. That remains as tongue like projections. Below that on cohesive mud wave ripple was formed, which are younger than the overlying mud. So this is a kind of inversion. During low tide the tongue like mud projections get exposed. Desiccation cracks are developed. Wave action breaks chunk of mud from that and rolls them forming mudballs.

Trench section of the land attached bar flank

Flaser bedding

It is a type of ripple bedding in which thin streaks of mud occur between sets of cross laminated sandy or silty sediments. Mud is mainly concentrated in the troughs but may also partly concentrated in crest. It suggests that deposition occurred in a rhythmically fluctuating hydraulic condition. Sand deposited in the higher energy environment, where as mud settled down from suspension in relatively lower energy environment. Again when the higher energy condition prevails, then the mud, deposited in the crests of sand ripples got eroded, but the crest mud got preserved- that gives the mud flaser, though mud flaser may also be preserved at the sand crests. Here mud and fine sand alteration indicates a tidal cycle. Here semidiurnal tide is

present here. In full moon intensity is maximum. So thickness of laminae increases from full moon to new moon. Thus spring-nib-spring cycle should be formed.

Mud flasers in the trench section of the land attached bar flank Trench section of Barrier bar
It shows thick mud layer at the bottom and thin sand at the top layer. It indicates that Aeolian activity has just started. At the central part of the bar, the trench revealed alternate coarse and fine layers of medium-grained sand which is indicative of the tidal inundation. There were indistinct crossstratification structures in the layers. The sand was found to be ill sorted. There was presence of rootlets and amorphous decayed organic matter within the layers which gave it a dark colour. As this bar is a newly formed one, it has not risen much above the sea level of the region, and after excavating the trench for about 2 feet, we encountered water. The coarse-fine alternation was not distinct enough to give a fool-proof account of the tidal cyclicity. The trench on the bar flank met with the water-level even earlier and here, the proportion of mud was higher. Indistinct sinuosity was seen here.