Sedimentary facies and radar facies of coastal sand dunes, east of Babolsar (Southern Caspian Sea)

In this study, four sand dunes, in the East of Babolsar were studied. These dunes are of lunar parabolic type. Their sediment textures are sand and sand with little gravel;.these sediments are moderately sorted, leptokurtic and have positive skewness. More than 60 percent of these deposits are composed of metamorphic and igneous rock fragments. Three sedimentary facies (i.e. A, B1 and B2) were recognized; facies A and B2 show charactertistics of coastal plains and sand dunes; facies B1 were deposited in a swash zone. The age of the middle and lower part of the studied dunes varies from 14 to 25 ka; indicating the minimum and maximum depositional rate of 0.15 and 0.2 mm/y, respectively. Four Radar Facies were recognized; their characteristics are indicative of dune foreslope, cut and trough fill and swash zone.