Can Hydrocarbons in Coastal Sediments be Related to Terrestrial Flux? A Case Study of Godavari River Discharge (Bay of Bengal)

A sediment core aged 250 years and deposition rate of similar to 2.4 mm yr(-1) raised from the coastal region receiving inputs from the Godavari river was examined for n-alkanes. The carbon preference index (CPI) of shortchain hydrocarbons (SHC) indicated intense bacterial activity. The long-chain hydrocarbons (LHC) were major and their CPI (CPILHC) indicated that the terrestrial source was more dominant compared to the in situ input. CPILHC is significantly linearly correlated and appears to be a proxy for the historical discharge of the river.