1 - Cochin University of Science and Technology

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ml water and 25 ml of2 N HCI was added and stirred vigorously. Filtering
was done through No.1 Whatman filter paper and washed thoroughly with
hot distilled water. The soil was transferred into a beaker and 10 ml 1 N
NaOH was added and stirred again for 10 minutes. The solution was
transferred in to a sedimentation cylinder and shaken vigorously for 10
minutes and after sufficient settling time (according to time-temperature
chart) 10 ml of suspension was drawn using a pipette at 10 cm depth and
dried at 105° C. Suspension was again shaken and a 10 ml sample was
dried. The whole quantity has been transferred in to a large beaker and the
entire clay and silt fraction was removed by thorough washing. The beaker
containing fine and coarse sand was evaporated and weighed properly.
Organic Carbon: Organic carbon was determined by the wet oxidation
method of EI-Wakeel and Riley, 1957.
2. 5. 3. Rain fall data collection and tidal level estimation
Rainfall data of Minicoy was collected from the data sheets of
Indian Meteorological Department. Tide level was estimated using the tide
tables of the year 1999, 2000 and 2001 for Minicoy region of
Lakshadweep.
2. 5. 4. Benthos
Numerical abundance: The benthos in the sediment sample recovered
after sieving through 0.5 mm mesh sieve was brought to the laboratory in
polythene bags, transferred to a large white bottomed tray and the animals
which were moving or easily recognizable were hand sorted. After this
preliminary examination, the whole sediment was treated with 5% buffered
formalin and kept for further analysis. After the preliminary examination,
detailed examination of each sample was carried out. A portion of
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