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Quartz grain surface features in environmental determination of aeolian Quaternary deposits in northeastern Tunisia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

A. Chakroun ,
J.-C. Miskovsky  and
D. Zaghbib-Turkil
A. Chakroun*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, 2092 El Manar II, Tunisia
J.-C. Miskovsky
Affiliation:
University of Perpignan, UMR 5590 CNRS, CERPT, 66720 Tautavel, France
D. Zaghbib-Turkil
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, 2092 El Manar II, Tunisia
*
* E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Quartz grain surfaces from the Quaternary sand deposits of northeastern Tunisia were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Superficial textures on the quartz grain surface are commonly well preserved and are characteristic of specific formation conditions, allowing the reconstruction of the transport and sedimentation chronology and environment of individual grains.

In the northeastern coastal part of Tunisia (Cap Bon peninsula), the quartz grain exoscopy analysis involves a complex sedimentary history during the Quaternary. The Quaternary dune samples provided a mixture of sub-angular and rounded quartz morphotypes with well preserved mechanical impacts on the grain surfaces. The investigated quartz grains revealed reasonably distinct textural combinations and are characterized firstly, by mechanical features, and secondly, by chemical processes. In all the materials examined, differing environmental evolutions, marine, aeolian and pedologic were detected.

Keywords

exoscopyquartzmicrotexturesQuaternarydepositional environmentsCap Bon PeninsulaTunisia.
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , August 2009 , pp. 607 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2009

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