Laser Diffraction Analysis Application on the Grain Size Analysis of Mati River Delta Sediments (Albania)

The source of Mati River is located in the Bulqiza district (North of Albania), while its delta is situated near to Rodoni Gulf. It has a length of 115 km and a surface basin is 2450 km2, including two contributors as Mati and Fani branches. Laser Diffraction Analysis was applied for the grain size analysis of beach sediments of Mati river delta. The measurements were carried out with Malvern instrument while the dataset were generated by performing Mastersizer 2000 software. This research aim is presenting the grain-size distribution, depositional processes, hydrodynamic condition, mechanism of sedimentation and depositional environments. The bivariate analyses, linear discriminant functions, were used for twenty six samples from the shoreline of Mati river delta. The results of grain size parameter reveal that samples of the study area are mostly medium sand followed by fine sand, moderately well sorted, symmetrical nature and mesokurtic to leptokurtic distribution. The analysis of linear discriminate function indicates that sediments were reworked by Aeolian or beach processes, under the environment of shallow marine and by fluvial deposits.