Abstract

The purposeof the present paper is to define the minerals content in the Najaf Dunes fieldsand the origin of these sand sediments in the southwestern parts of Iraq. There are three types of dunesin this fieldwere described, the barchan, longitudinal, and domedunes and additional types e.g. Nabkha, Barchanoidridges, and sand sheet dunes. The study area wasdivided into three areas according to the geographical position, and numerous sampleswere collected from this field.The mineralogical study consistsfrom three methodsthese are; thefirst:separation of sand samples into the light and heavy minerals by heavy liquids,whereperformed on 30 samples.Thesecondmethod;carbonate contentperformed on 60samples, and the third method;X-ray diffractionperformed on 20 samples. The light minerals contents composed from quartz, feldspar, and rock fragments, the rock fragments composed mainly of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock fragments. The heavy minerals are mostlycomposedfromopaquesminerals, chloritegroup,garnet group, zircon, pyroxenes, amphiboles, epidotes, biotite,muscovite,tourmaline, kyanite, staurolite, rutile,and celestite.The heavy minerals analyses of all dunes, in three areas, show to the many source areas, these recentsediments and nearby older Sedimentaryformations around the study areas, especially Dibidbba formationwere the great influence from other geological formations.While the high percentages of carbonate content was obtained due to the presence of neighboring formations, which consists of limestone rocks (e.g.Dammam, Euphrates andNfayil). Andthepresent study shows a clear relation between the carbonate percentages and the grain size, as theyincrease with finer sizes. (PDF) Mineralogical study of Sand Dunes Fields in Najaf Governorate, Southern Iraq. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331453439_Mineralogical_study_of_Sand_Dunes_Fields_in_Najaf_Governorate_Southern_Iraq [accessed Apr 28 2019].