GEOCHEMISTRY OF SOME RECENT SURFACE SEDIMENTS NORTH AL WAJH, NW SAUDI ARABIA | ||
| Delta Journal of Science | ||
| Article 7, Volume 32, Issue 1, June 2008, Pages 77-90 PDF (5.84 M) | ||
| Document Type: Research and Reference | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/djs.2008.152959 | ||
| Authors | ||
| A. M. B. Moufti1; I. H. Arafa2 | ||
| 1Department of Mineral Resources and Rocks, Faculty of Earth Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, B. O. Box 80206, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia | ||
| 2Former Head of the Geological Museum, Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The present paper discusses the geochemical characterization of some recent surface sediment collected from AL Wajh, N W Saudi Arabia. The interpretations are based on geochemical, and mineralogical data on both the heavy and the light fractions. The heavy minerals fraction belonging to the grain size intervals; 40-63, 63- 125 and 125-250 µm were separated by bromoform (specific gravity of 2.87). About 30 samples were collected from the three surveyed wadis, 9- 10 for each. The chemical analysis was conducted on 16 trace elements, including most heavy metals using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) procedures. The obtained data of Cr, Cu, Pb, V, Zn and As are heterogeneous and have high standard deviation (δ) while Ni has limited variability. Geographically, the samples of Wadi Thalabah display higher Cr, Zn and Co concentrations, especially at the flux of the wadi where the black beach sand sediments contain 529,302 and 50 ppm of Cr, Zn and Co, respectively. These black sand sediments are also enriched in most other trace elements (except for As, Ba, and Pb). In spite of the fact that the alluvium sediments display high concentration of AS, U, Ba and Sr, they are markedly depleted in rest of the analyzed elements. Beach and dune sediments have nearly similar average values. The absence of close relation between heavy metals content and grain size indicates immaturity of the investigated sediments at the southern sector of Al Wajh Duba region. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Geochemistry; stream sediments; sand dunes; beach sediments; heavy metals | ||
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