Abstract
The sediments on the banks of Shatt al-Arab and Shatt Al-Basrah have been studied to find out their mineralogical variation. Twenty-two samples were collected from depths of 20 cm of recent sediments Shatt Al-Arab and Shatt Al-Basrah Rivers banks, with approximately equal distances between them, the grain size analysis was conducted, and selected samples were prepared for X-ray diffraction, heavy and light minerals analysis. The result of grain size analysis showed that silt loam texture is dominated in Shatt Al-Arab River while silty clay loam texture in Shatt Al-Basrah River. quartz, calcite, dolomite, feldspar, and halite represent the light minerals in the silt fraction in the study area sediments, while the clay minerals are represented by kaolinite, palygorskite, illite, and montmorillonite-chlorite in Shatt Al-Arab River and the same clay minerals with small amount of montmorillonite in Shatt Al-Basrah River. The petrographic analysis showed that the light mineral contents in the sand fraction are composed primarily of quartz, feldspar, and rock fragment. The main rock fragments consist of carbonate, chert igneous and metamorphic rocks, mudstone, and evaporates (Gypsum). The heavy minerals contents are opaque minerals, pyroxene, hornblende, chlorite, biotite muscovite, epidote, staurolite, kyanite, garnet, tourmaline, rutile, and zircon.
Highlights
Shatt Al-Arab River (East of Basrah Governorate) formed by the confluence of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Al-Qurna town northern Basrah Governorate in the south of Iraq and it continues to flow southeast until it reaches the Arabian Gulf, the Shatt Al-Arab river length from Qurna to its mouth is about 192 km, and its width varies between 250 meters at Qurna area, and about 750 meters at its mouth in Rass Al-Bisha area (Rahi, 2018)
The grain size analysis results in the studied samples are given in Tables 2 and 3 which show the percentage of sand silt and clay (Fig. 2 and 3)
Silt loam texture is dominated in Shatt Al-Arab River, while silty clay loam texture was dominated in Shatt Al-Basrah River
Summary
Shatt Al-Arab River (East of Basrah Governorate) formed by the confluence of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Al-Qurna town northern Basrah Governorate in the south of Iraq and it continues to flow southeast until it reaches the Arabian Gulf, the Shatt Al-Arab river length from Qurna to its mouth is about 192 km, and its width varies between 250 meters at Qurna area, and about 750 meters at its mouth in Rass Al-Bisha area (Rahi, 2018). There are many previous studies about the study area, including Al-Hamad (2017) which studied the sedimentological, mineralogical, and fossils of the Shatt Al-Arab River and showed that calcite, quartz, dolomite, and feldspar are the major dominant light minerals while kaolinite, illite, chlorite, palygorskite, and mixed-layer of montmorillonite- chlorite are the major clay minerals that present in the study area. (Albadran et al, 1996) studied the distribution of heavy minerals in the low part of the Shatt al Arab River and showed that the coarse fraction of the recent sediments in this area mostly consists of light minerals with very few percentages of heavy minerals. The results indicated that the Shatt Al-Arab sediments suffer from high contamination of Pb and Cd elements, while the degree of contamination was moderate with Cu, Zn, Mn, and Fe elements. (Al-Janabi et al, 2019) studied the heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Mn, and Fe) in the Shatt Al-Basrah sediments; the work revealed that there was Fe pollution in the sediments of the Shatt Al-Basrah canal, as indicated by the pollution index, and Ca had a high Enrichment Factor in all positions. Al-Jaberi et al (2016) studied heavy metals pollution and sediments quality of Shatt Al-Arab River; the study found that Cr, 2022, 55 (1A), 116-127
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