Physical properties of aeolian sediments within major dune corridor in Kuwait
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Physical properties of aeolian sediments within major dune corridor in Kuwait Ali M. Al-Dousari & Abdusalam Al-Hazza
Received: 16 February 2011 / Accepted: 17 May 2011 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2011
Abstract A total of 212 sand samples were collected from aeolian surface sediments in a major dune corridor, northwestern Kuwait. Five main physical properties were taken into consideration in analyzing aeolian samples, namely color, shape, roundness, particle morphometry, and surface area. The analysis of quartz particles by the scanning electron microscope shows the influence of transportation on the microfeatures of individual particles. The surface deposits are dominantly unimodal and occasionally bimodal. It is obvious that coarse and medium sand are the dominant size fractions within aeolian deposits. The results according to the Munsell color system between downwind and upwind values show no variations. Also, the average percentages of roundness subclasses for upwind and downwind samples are similar (6.7%). The average values (area, equivalent diameter, perimeter, and elongation) for aeolian samples in downwind are slightly higher than in upwind and Al-Dibdibba Formation samples, but the values overlap at 1 standard deviation. The interrelationship diagrams show that the shapes of the particles within samples in the three groups are running in the same trend. In general, the northwestern (upwind) particles show more mechanical and chemical features compared with southeastern particles (downwind). The slight variation between aeolian (upwind and downwind) samples is attributed to the transportation effect of these particles. This led to a conclusion, based on the overall results of physical properties, that the coarse and medium particles (about 80% of the whole aeolian sample) are dominantly derived from local sources. A. M. Al-Dousari (*) : A. Al-Hazza Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P.O. Box 24885, Safat 13109, Kuwait e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords Aeolian sediments . Munsell color system . Al-Dibdibba Formation
Introduction Studies of individual microscopic images of sand particles show that color variations of the particles are achieved by the presence of iron oxides deposits on pits and other surface irregularities on clear or frosted quartz particles (Lancaster 1995). Wells (2002) used three-dimensional stereoscopic scatter plots to plot the three parameters of Munsell colors (hue, value, and chroma). Particle color studies were also applied to dune sand in the Strzelecki dune field of Australia (Wasson 1983), the Simpson Desert (Pell et al. 2000), the Namib sand sea (Walden et al. 1996), and Portuguese beach dunes (Guedes et al. 2009). White and Bullard (2009) claimed that dune sand become lighter in color at downwind from source area. The shape of sand particles is determined by their composition, origin, and transport history (Pye and Tsoar 1990). Experimental work done by Kuenen (1960) suggests that wind rounds 100–1,000 times faster than fluvial action. The su
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