Mineralogical Characterization of soil samples using X-ray techniques

Abstract

This article summarized some characteristics of clayey materials in samples of Senegal such as Thies ENSA, Thies CERAAS, Ndakhar Mbaye and Nioro. Those Four soil profiles situated at different agricultural zones were chosen and soil samples were taken from top and sub-surface layers. The Characterization of Soil samples was performed by different techniques such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). XRF showed the chemical compositions (major and trace elements) where Al-oxide and silica are present in major quantity. XRD revealed the following soil mineralogical characteristics. The Anatase and Goethite were not detected in Nioro samples. The former constituted the dominant mineral phase while the latter was quantitatively insignificant. The Quartz appears to be more significant in top layers whereas Kaolinite was more abundant in sub-surface layers. This work aims to make a chemical and mineralogical characterizations of soil samples. The idea is to correlate soil minerals composition and the development and growth of crops.