Statistics for The coastal zone of Mangalore region in Dakshina Kannada (D. K.) District of Karnataka state is acquiring an ever increasing importance. To study the coastal zone for planning of navigational improvements, erosion control, land reclamation and in general coastal zone management online data is required by coastal engineers, oceanographers and sedimentologists. In the present study one such problem namely sediment movement is considered. In order to study sediment movement and influence of median grain size on the beach face slope along D.K. coast, sand samples were collected from 35 locations along coast during November 1999 and January 2000 and they have been analysed. The sediment grain size characteristics (statistical parameters) were obtained and sediment trend matrix was prepared. By using sediment trend matrix, sediment travelling paths were drawn. It has been found that during November 1999, sediments were predominantly moving towards south and during January 2000 the direction of sediments got reversed along this coast. It is seen that during this period there is no significant net littoral drift along D.K. coast. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.