Mineralogy of the clay fraction of some soils in the westren coastal littoral of Egypt

Abstract EN

Seven soil profiles were selected to study the mineralogy of the clay fraction of the sediments representing the main geomorphic units in the calcareous western coastal littoral (the coastal plain and the lagoon depression) in an attempt to throw light on their mineralogical composition.

Identification of clay and non-clay minerals was carried out using X-ray and K2O content.

The obtained results show that the studied soils are dominated by kaolinite together with palygorskite, illite and feldspars.

The other associated minerals such as steatite (montmorillonite) and vermiculite are also present, yet in variable frequencies depending on the geomorphic units on which these soils are occurred.