Structural characterizations of dune sand and construction sand of Sidi Slimane and Zaouia El Abidia areas in the Touggourt region in southeast Algeria

• Published in: Arabian journal of geosciences Vol. 14; no. 22
• Main Authors: Benchaa, Sayhia, Gheriani, Rachid, Achouri, Abderrahim, Bouguettaia, Hamza, Mechri, Mohammed Laïd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.11.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorption; Absorption spectra; Analytical methods; Calcite; Calcium carbonate; Construction; Dune sand; Dunes; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth science; Earth Sciences; Electron microscopy; Electronics industry; Fourier analysis; Fourier transforms; Grain size; Gypsum; Industrial applications; Infrared absorption; Infrared spectroscopy; Lasers; Natural resources; Optics; Original Paper; Particle size; Project evaluation; Quartz; Regions; Sand; Scanning electron microscopy; Silica; Silicon dioxide; Spectra; Spectrum analysis; Vibration; X-ray diffraction; Algeria; Particle size; SEM; Algeria; XRD; FTIR; Sand dunes
• ISSN: 1866-7511; 1866-7538
• DOI: 10.1007/s12517-021-08303-9

This work investigates certain physical and structural properties of three categories of sand samples, as natural resource, taken from two terrains of Touggourt El-kobra region in southeast Algeria. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and laser scattering particle size analyzer have been used. The X’Pert High Score program was used in the analysis of XRD data. The XRD spectra showed that the sand samples of the two regions were mainly composed of quartz (SiO 2 ), in addition to having less amounts of gypsum (CaSO 4 ; 2H 2 O) and a small quantity of calcite (CaCO 3 ), compared to construction sand, in which the principal mineral is gypsum (CaSO 4 ; 2H 2 O) and a small amount of quartz (SiO 2 ). The sand dune samples’ infrared absorption spectrum shows the characteristic vibration bond peaks for quartz as 459.08, 466.77, 516.9, 779.24, 1029.29, and 1041.56 cm −1 ; also these analyses reveal the gypsum characteristic peaks at 601.79, 671.23, 1114.86, 1138, and 1620.21 cm −1 . The frequencies at 1396.46 and 2507 .46 cm −1 indicate the existence of calcite in our samples. FTIR spectra enregistered on construction sand samples showed the absorption peaks at 671.23, 1620.21, and 3410.15 cm −1 are identified for gypsum. The other absorption bands at 466.77, 516.92, and 779.24 cm −1 in our sand samples indicate the presence of quartz. The particle size of dune sand of Zaouia El Abidia samples varied between 51.471 and 2009.687 μm with an average grain size of 605.15 μm; as for Sidi Slimane, it varied between 58.953 and 1167.725 μm with an average size of 327.74 μm and 262.376–2301.841μm with an average of 689.996 μm for Sidi Slimane construction sand. The shapes of Zaouia El Abidia and Sidi Slimane sand grain samples ranged from rounded to subangular to irregular. However, the construction sands of Sidi Slimane have shapes ranging from elongate to subrounded. The obtained results affirm that the two regions could be important sources of quartz and gypsum which are primary materials for many industrial applications such as optics, microelectronics, and semiconductors.