Abstract
Samples were collected from the surfaces of four types of typical dunes in order to identify variations in textural characteristics over their bodies. These dunes are barchan, climbing dune, falling dune, and nabkha. Statistical parameters vary from position to another and show that each dune has its own characteristics. It is well recognized that all the sediments of the studied dunes tend to be finer from borders toward the mid dune. Histograms and bivariate diagrams successfully differentiate between different localities within all studied dunes. The climbing dune shows high uniformity where medium sand represents the mean grain size of 91% of collected samples. Samples from barchan and falling dune show lowest variability in statistical parameter values compared to other dunes. On the other hand, nabkha sediments are more variable and show higher values of average statistical parameters. All studied dunes are coarser than surrounding dunes in regional areas and other comparable dunes. But particularly, the barchan sediments in Kuwait are characterized by larger grain size, better sorting than other comparable dunes in the upwind (Iraq) and downwind (Saudi Arabia) and other parts of the world.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abuodha JOZ (2003) Grain size distribution and composition of modern dune and beach sediments, Malindi Bay coast, Kenya. J Afr Earth Sci 36:41–54
Ahlbrandt TS (1979) Textural parameters of eolian deposits. In: McKee ED (ed) A study of global sand seas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper no.1052
Al-Dousari AM, Pye K (2005) Mapping and monitoring of dunes in northwestern Kuwait. Kuwait J Sci Eng 32(2):119–134
Al-Enezi A (2001) Morphodynamics and sedimentology of falling dunes, northeast Kuwait. Ph.D. thesis, Royal Holloway University of London, London
Bagnold RA (1941) Physics of blown sand and desert dunes (pp. 265). Chapman & Hall, London
Binda PL (1983) On skewness of some eolian sands from Saudi Arabia. In: Brookfield ME, Ahlbrandt TS (eds) Developments in sedimentology, vol. 38. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 27–39
Blott SJ, Pye K (2001) GRADISTAT: a grain size distribution and statistics package for the analysis of unconsolidated sediments. Earth Surf Process Landforms 26(11):1237–1248
Dougrameji J (1984) The physical and mineralogical characteristics of some sand dunes in Iraq. Presented in the first Arabian Conference for dunes stabilization and desertification control, 14–22 October 1984, University of Baghdad, Iraq (in Arabic)
Fenwick GA (1991) Grain size and easterly wind influences on dune of the north central Namib desert. Z Geomorphol 35:283–292
Folk RL (1971) Longitudinal dune of the north-western edge of the Simpson Desert, northern Territory, Australia, 1: geomorphology and grain size relationships. Sedimentology 16:5–54
Folk RL, Ward WT (1957) Brazos River bar: a study in the significance of grain-size parameters. J Sediment Petrol 27:3–26
Glennie KW (1970) Desert sedimentary environments. Development in sedimentology 14. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Gunatilaka A, Mwango S (1987) Continental sabkha pans and associated nebkhas in southern Kuwait. Arab Gulf Geol Soc Spec Publ 35:187–203
Kelio A, Al-Shiekh M (1986) Nabkhas of the northern coast of Kuwait. J Geogr Soc Kuwait Spec Publ, 124 pp (in Arabic).
Khalaf FI (1989) Textural characteristics and genesis of the aeolian sediments in Kuwait desert. Sedimentology 36:253–271
Khalaf FI, Al-Ajmi D (1993) Aeolian processes and sand encroachment problems in Kuwait. Geomorphology 6:111–134
Khalaf FI, Misak R, Al-Dousari AM (1995) Sedimentological and morphological characteristics of some nabkha deposits in the northern coastal plain of Kuwait, Arabia. J Arid Environ 29:267–292
Lancaster N (1981) Grain size characteristics of Namib Desert linear dunes. Sedimentology 28:115–122
Lancaster N (1986) Grain size characteristics of linear dunes in southwestern Kalahari. J Sediment Petrol 56:233–244
Lancaster N (1995) Geomorphology of desert dunes. Routledge, London
Langford RP (2000) Nabkha (coppice dune) fields of south-central New Mexico, USA. J Arid Environ 46:25–41
Livingstone I, Bullard JE, Wiggs GFS, Thomas DSG (1999) Grain-size variation on dunes in the southwest Kalahari, Southern Africa. J Sediment Res 69:546–552
McKee ED (1979) Introduction to a study of global sand seas. In: McKee ED (Ed) A study of global sand seas. US Geological Survey Professional paper no.1052
McKee ED, Tibbitts GC (1964) Primary structures of a seif dune and associated deposits in Libya. J Sediment Petrol 34:5–17
Nielson OB, Dalsgaard K, Halgreen C, Kuhlman H, Moller J, Schou G (1982) Variation in particle size distribution over a small dune. Sedimentology 29:53–65
Omar S, El-Bagouri I, Anwer M, Khalaf F, Al-Hashash M, Nassef A (1989) Measures to control mobile sand in Kuwait. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, report no. KISR2760, Kuwait
Pye K, Tsoar H (1990) Aeolian sand and sand dunes. Unwin Hyman, London
Rock NMS (1988) Numerical geology, lecture notes in earth sciences, vol. 18. Springer, New York, p 427
Skocek V, Saadallah AA (1972) Grain size distribution, carbonate content and heavy minerals in eolian sands, southern desert, Iraq. Sediment Geol 8:29–46
Wang X, Dong Z, Qu J, Zhang J, Zhao A (2003) Dynamic processes of a simple linear dune—a study in the Taklimankan Sand Sea, China. Geomorphology 52:233–241
Watson A (1986) Grain-size variations on a longitudinal dune and a barchan dune. Sediment Geol 46:49–66
White BR, Tsoar H (1998) Slope effect on saltation over a climbing sand dune. Geomorphology 22:159–180
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to express their gratitude for Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) for funding and supporting this research as a general activity. Special thanks to Professor Sammak for valuable discussions and suggestions. Thanks also extended to Mr. Mustafa, Mr. Sayed, and Mr. Mamdouh for their assistance in field measurements and laboratory analysis, and for Mrs. Margaret for editing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Al-Dousari, A.M., Al-Enezi, A.K. & Al-Awadhi, J. Textural variations within different representative types of dune sediments in Kuwait. Arab J Geosci 1, 17–31 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-008-0002-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-008-0002-4