Delineating surface sediments physical properties in Ghudai Area, Kuwait

Abstract

There are three main challenges to establishing human settlements in Ghudai area at northern Kuwait Bay, namely; sand encroachment, water floods, and coastal erosion. Therefore, the particle size distribution percentage and statistical parameters in Ghudai surface sediments at the Kuwait Bay coast were determined and delineated in an attempt to display the depositional environment and its impact on the seedling growth of native plants. Particle sizes were assessed using a centrifugal particle analyzer and 373 samples representing the top 20 cm of surficial sediments were taken from the main geomorphological zones around Nitraria retusa and Lycium shawii nabkhas as dominant species in the study area, particle size percentages, and statistical size parameters were determined and delineated. The structural parameter distribution showed the dominance of medium sand sediments, as well as their environmental consequences revealing the unidirectional signature of fluvial flow from the Jal Al-Zur escarpment and wind transportation toward Kuwait Bay. Different discrimination maps of particle size parameters and other factors were plotted. The research shows that particle size parameters are highly vulnerable to slight changes in the pattern of sediment composition where sediments are deposited and reformed in disturbed environments.