Sediment Characteristics of Polachira Wetland in Kollam District, Kerala

Wetlands are unique areas that have characteristics of both land and water, as the name implies. The present investigation was undertaken in the Polachira wetland spread over 600 hectares located in Kollam district, kerala. Sediment samples were collected from five different sampling stations for a period of one year from april 2013 to march 2014. . The sediment samples collected were analyzed for texture analysis, organic carbon and chlorophyll pigment (chlorophyll a, b and c). Textural analysis revealed that sand was a dominant component (82.33 %) followed by clay (42.64 %) and silt (27.24 %). The month wise data of sediment organic carbon ranged from 73.5mg/g to 9.6mg/g during august 2013 at station III and January 2014 at station IV respectively. The monthly data on Chl. a varied from 0.09mg/l during may 2013 at station I to 9.6mg/l during June 2013 at station IV. The month wise distribution of Chl. b varied from 6.89mg/l to 0.01mg/l. The higher value was recorded in the month of February at station V and lower value was observed in the month of January at station IV & V. The higher value of Chl. c (8.39mg/l) was recorded in the month of February 2013 at station V and lower value (0.04mg/l) was recorded in the month of January 2014 at station I. Among the soil constituents sand was the dominant component and organic carbon (73.5mg/g) are quite high during the monsoon period.