A study on the mineral contents of Kemaman river estuarine sediment

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the mineral contents and sediment types of Kemaman river estuarine sediments. The sediment samples were collected using Ekman Grab from 10 stations at Kemaman river estuarine, Terengganu. Identification of mineral contents in the sediment and its elemental composition were determined using X-ray Powder Diffractometer (XRD) and Scanning electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive X­ ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) respectively. The texture of the sediments was determined using hydrometer method. Results in the mineral analysis using XRD and SEM-EDS showed that quartz is the most dominant mineral found in the study area, which indicates that quartz is present in large amount. Besides that, kaolinite, mica and ilmenite are also present frequently, few and possible occurrence respectively at this study area. In addition, trace amount of other mineral such as feldspar, gibbsite and pyrite are also present in trace amount in this study. For SEM-EDS analysis also shows that silicon oxide (Si02) also known as quartz is most dominant in the study area, followed by aluminium oxide (Al203), iron oxide (Fe203), potassium oxide (K20), magnesium oxide (MgO) and calcium oxide (CaO). For texture analysis, indicated that most of the sediments from the texture analysis showed that most of the textural classes in the sediment are sandy loam followed by sandy clay loam, loamy sand and loam. Many factors that are influence the texture of the sediment such as river transport of sediment, river inflow, waves and wind action, meteorological forces and also environment activities.