Geotechnical characterization and modelling of the Mandena heavy mineral sand deposit

Surficial sediment transportation studies carried out in the beach zone of Bendi-Baruva mineral sand deposit show that sand grains are transported by wind (saltation and suspension) beyond the high water line. The sand population of the study area contains heavy mineral sands (~20%) like ilmenite, garnet and sillimanite which covers 95% of the heavy mineral distribution with subordinate amounts of monazite, rutile, and zircon whereas light mineral sands (~80%) contain mostly quartz. Due to the sorted nature of these beach and dune sands the whole spectra falls within a specific range of grain size which shows a bi-modal distribution, primary mode at 0.025cm and secondary at 0.015cm. Due to this variation in density and grain size, mass of these sand particles vary resulting in differential transportation in any energy regime. In the study area, on the beach near the frontal dunes, surficial concentration of garnet grains are observed in patches having an average thickness 0.2cm i.e. around ten times of the dominant grain diameter. This surficial enrichment of garnet grains resting on a semi-uniform sand surface is the result of differential transportation of the dominant mineral grains. As more than 80% of the grain size population show a dominant grain size of 0.025cm, the wind flow parameters for the whole population is standardized with mean grain diameter (D) of 0.025cm. Mass of dominant individual minerals arrived from the grain counting technique was tallied with the theoretical mass considering spherical shape of the grains indicates a difference of mass to be within 5%. For ease of calculation and generalization the grains were considered to be spherical and their theoretical masses were taken into consideration in calculations. Considering the whole spectra of mineralogical distribution, a theoretical mass group distribution for dominant different minerals of different dominant grain sizes were formulated and total six mass groups were identified. Because quartz (~80%), ilmenite, sillimanite and garnet (together ~20%) are the most abundant, their positions were identified specifically in the theoretical mass groups and only these are considered for further discussion. To analyse wind velocity and pressure at different heights from the surface, a sediment trap was fabricated using piezo-electric sensors. A tail was attached to orient the device parallel to the wind flow so that the piezo surfaces always face the wind flow at 900 angle. The device records pressure data and converts those into voltage. Using the velocity data, macroscopic physical quantities of aeolian transportation were calculated for the study area, which empirically show the effect of mass in differential transportation of the dominant minerals that gives rise to these surficial garnet patches.

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Determination of liquefaction potential for two selected sites in Kerbala city- middle of Iraq

International Journal of Engineering & Technology ◽

10.14419/ijet.v7i1.8268 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 25

Author(s):

Hamed Abdullah ◽

Mohammed Fattah ◽

Abdulkareem Abed

Keyword(s):

Relative Density ◽

Size Distribution ◽

Ground Surface ◽

Borehole Data ◽

Ground Acceleration ◽

Geotechnical Characterization ◽

Sand Deposit ◽

Different Sources

Geotechnical characterization of the sites has been investigated with the collection of borehole data from different sources. Using the data, grain size distribution curves have been developed to understand the particle size distribution of the alluvium present. These curves were further used for preliminary assessment of liquefiable areas. From geotechnical characterization, it has been observed that the soil profile in the two sites is dominated by sand and silty sand.Seed and Idriss (1971) approachhas been usedevaluatethe liquefaction potentialbydeterminationof the relation between the maximum ground acceleration (a max/g) valuesdue to an earthquake and the relative density of a sand deposit in the field. The results reveal that the study area will be subjected to occurrence of liquefaction under an earthquake of maximum ground acceleration of 0.1 g when the soil is loose with a relative density between (25-40) % in Kerbala city.Design chartswere obtained for determination of liquefaction potentialin any layer with knowingthe field relative densityand the value of the maximum ground surface acceleration.

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Variations in Surface Textures of Quartz Sand using Electron Microscopy

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100069466 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

pp. 494-495

Author(s):

Eugene J. Amaral

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Glass Industry ◽

Glass Slide ◽

Distilled Water ◽

Early Paleozoic ◽

Secondary Effects ◽

Surface Textures ◽

High Silica ◽

Sand Deposit ◽

The U.S

Examination of sand grain surfaces from early Paleozoic sandstones by electron microscopy reveals a variety of secondary effects caused by rock-forming processes after final deposition of the sand. Detailed studies were conducted on both coarse (≥0.71mm) and fine (=0.25mm) fractions of St. Peter Sandstone, a widespread sand deposit underlying much of the U.S. Central Interior and used in the glass industry because of its remarkably high silica purity.The very friable sandstone was disaggregated and sieved to obtain the two size fractions, and then cleaned by boiling in HCl to remove any iron impurities and rinsed in distilled water. The sand grains were then partially embedded by sprinkling them onto a glass slide coated with a thin tacky layer of latex. Direct platinum shadowed carbon replicas were made of the exposed sand grain surfaces, and were separated by dissolution of the silica in HF acid.

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