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https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00687-9

ORIGINAL PAPER

Characterization of Sand From Jebel Ad-Darin Sened (Gafsa-Tunisia)

Housseina Nasri 1 & Saci Kermani 2 & Mohamed Ammar Abbassi 1 & Ahmed Omri 1

Received: 17 April 2020 / Accepted: 3 September 2020

# Springer Nature B.V. 2020

Abstract
In order to widen the industrial uses of Jebel Ad-Darin sand from Orbata formation of the region of Sened, different investigations
have been made to determine the characteristics of the natural raw material using several techniques. The analyses were carried
out by atomic adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as by microscopic observations under a scanning electronic micro-
scope (SEM). Grain size analysis indicates the dominance of medium to coarse sands (> 250 μm) in our studied quarry, with good
ranking and strong asymmetry towards small sizes. The mineralogical analysis by X-ray diffraction and scanning electronic
microscope SEM showed that the sand of studied career consists essentially of quartz, whose percentage varied from 98–
100%.The chemical analyses of these samples confirmed these results. Mineralogical and physico-chemical characterizations
indicated that the pure sand of Jebel Ad-Darin in Sened could be of great interest in the industrial sector.

Keywords Grain-size analysis . Mineralogical and chemical analyses . Sand . Jebel Ad-Darin Sened . Tunisia

1 Introduction the production of glassware, foundry, building, electrometallur-

gy, ceramics, chemistry, paints, mineral fillers, fiberglass, glues,
The world production of silica sand for industrial uses is filtration, sports and leisure, abrasives [12–15].
around 140 Mt/year [1].Which is dominated by the USA The present paper is interested in the locally available sands
(24%) and the Netherlands (20%) [1], while Tunisia’s share deposit in the region of Sened-Gafsa where, to the best of our
is insignificant. knowledge, no studies have been carried out yet. The utmost
Silica (SiO2) is one of the substances present everywhere in objective of this study is to investigate the physicochemical and
the earth’s crust. It is also present in bedrock or in detrital mineralogical features of sand from our study area. The current
sediments, and the sand is present in the form of mineralogical physico-chemical and mineralogical characterization is based
sets composed essentially of quartz and other families of min- on the application of techniques adapted to the study of min-
erals [2–7]. The source of sand is defined in nature as one of the erals such as particle size analysis, atomic adsorption analysis,
products of erosion and alteration of the geological formations scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis,
of a region [3, 5, 7]. According to Tunisian scientific studies, it Brunauer-Emmett-Telle (BET) surface area analysis, moisture
is possible to draw appreciable benefits from sand in Tunisian content, bulk density and swelling index measurement.
regions, especially in Gafsa, which stands out for its superior
quality. The proportion of silica in the sand varied between
87% and 99% by referring to various previous studies and
recent research works [8–15]. A resource that can be used in 2 Study Area

The region of Gafsa, located in central western Tunisia

* Saci Kermani (Fig. 1), covers an area of 7807 km2 and has a population of
k.saci@yahoo.fr 346,047 in 2017.Its climate is arid, with low annual precipita-
tion (165 mm) and an average monthly temperature of around
1
Research Unit: Materials, Energy and Renewable Energies, Faculty
34 °C in July and August and 13 °C in January [16]. The
of Sciences of Gafsa, Gafsa, Tunisia evaporation rate at Gafsa station (near Chott el Jerid) is about
2
Laboratory of Geomorphology and Geo-hazards, Faculty of Earth
2858 mm per year [17]. From November to April, the prevail-
Sciences, University of Sciences and Technology, ing dry and cold wind, often accompanied by sandstorms,
HouariBoumedienne (USTHB), Algiers, Algeria comes from the west, southwest and northwest.It causes
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erosion and sludge deposits downwind [18], and could be according to the size, weight and shape of the sand grains
responsible for the pollution of surrounding soil[19]. [20, 21, 7]. Grain-size analysis was realized in this study on
a representative sample of sand for each zone. Before starting
The sand used for this research work originates from the the analysis, the samples were dried in an oven for 24 hours at
Jebel Ad-Darin sand deposit (Fig. 1) of the Orbata formation. an average temperature of 60 to 80 °C to remove moisture.
Jebel Ad-Darin is located in the Sened area, about 50 km East The analysis was conducted on a quantity of 50 g of the sam-
of Gafsa. It is southeast of Jebel Sagoufta and northeast of ple using the conventional method by dry sieving. The sam-
Sened. It has an altitude of 556 meters. Jebel Ad-Darin is ples were sieved through a sieve column, staggered according
located at 34.4833° North latitude and 9.3167° East longitude. to the AFNOR standard, for 15 minutes with a horizontal and
vertical vibration electric sieving machine. The refusals col-
lected on each sieve were weighed on a scale which accuracy
3 Materials and Methods of 0.01 g. The results of this study were interpreted according
to the classical sedimentological procedures of Folk and Ward
In this study, the characterization and evaluation of the Gafsa [20] from the processing and statistical computation of the
area sand were based on the analysis of several sand samples. granulometric indices, such as sorting index (σi), Skewness
These samples were collected during field missions. Fourteen (Ski) and Mean size (Mz).
sand samples were taken from three zones in our study area: 5
samples from the base part of the quarry (zone 01), 5 samples 3.1.2 Exoscopic Analysis of Quartz Grains
from the central part (zone 02) and 4 samples from the up-
stream part of the quarry (zone 03). This division was based
This study is based on the observation and interpretation of
essentially on the change in altitude (base, middle and top of micro textures on the surface of quartz grains in samples from
the quarry), sand color, effect of climatic parameters, nature of each sampling unit. This technique provides information on
geological formations and the degree of erosion and alteration.
successive sedimentary cycles of sand-grain deposition medi-
um and the geographical origin of sand grains [8, 22–24].
3.1 Sedimentological Analysis The chemical pretreatments were conducted on 20 to 30 g
of the raw sample. Firstly boiling for 10 min was made in a
3.1.1 Grain-size Analysis hydrochloric acid solution (10–30%) for the removal of car-
bonates and iron oxides [25, 26], followed by the washing of
Grain-size analysis is the mechanical procedure of studying the sample with distilled water. Secondly, treatment was ap-
the distribution of the dominant size classes in the sample plied with H2O2 solution to remove organic matter. Thirdly,

Fig. 1 Location of Study Area. (Source : Digital Elevation Model, downloaded from the USGS website: https://earthexporer.usgs.gov/)
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the samples were washed with distilled water and oven dried 3.3.2 Moisture Content
at 60 ° C and then sieved, followed by the selection of 20 to 30
clean and dry quartz grains for each sample from the sanding Moisture is a very important parameter to identify the diffu-
fraction of medium sands (300 and 500 μm) randomly under sion or storage characteristics of the water in the sand. Hence,
the binocular magnifying glass.Since the recognition of our sand grains were dried in an oven for 24 hours at 105 ° C
micro-textures was related to grain size [22, 27], this study to guarantee the stabilization of mass. The determination of
was carried out at the Scanning Electron Microscope using the moisture content (H) was calculated by Formula (2), from
SEM JSM-IT 100 at the Joint Research Services Unit of the ratio of the mass of water (mwater) to the mass of solid
Gafsa, Tunisia. particles (ms), the mass water is defined as the deference be-
The results were interpreted on scanning electron micro- tween the mass of the wet sample (wetmass) and the mass of
graphs of sand samples. These micrographs were obtained for the dry sample (drymass) [31].
a clear observation on the surface of quartz grains. The inter-
Hð%Þ ¼ ðwetmass  drymass=wetmassÞ ? 100: ð2Þ
pretation of micro-textures and the shape of quartz grains was
inspired by the work of several authors such as those of
Krinsley and Doornkamp[28], Le Ribault[22], Mahaney [23]
Mahaney et al. [24]. 3.3.3 Swelling Index

3.2 Mineralogical Analysis By suspending, the clay can fix a significant amount of water,
which has the effect of spreading each other, thus translating
The mineralogical analysis is based on the qualitative and swelling. The test consists of introducing 0.5 g of sand into
quantitative identification of mineralogical phases within 50 ml of distilled water in a 100 ml graduated cylinder. After
crystalline materials, using the X-ray diffraction technique. 45 minutes, we add another 0.5 g of sand. After 2 hours, we
For our study, all the sand samples taken from the different observe the volume occupied which is called the volume of
zones were analyzed after the preparation of the powders (1 to swelling (VS). The swelling index (IS) is determined by the
2 g of the raw sample) according to the method of Moore and formula defined by Qlihaa et al.[30] as shown by the follow-
Reynolds [29]. ing Eq. (3):
The total mineralogy of each sand sample was performed Is ¼ ðVs ? 50Þ=ð50  HÞ: ð3Þ
after the interpretation of the diffractograms (spectra) acquired
on the Expert High Score plus PANalytical Diffractometer.
The identification of the different mineralogical phases was
carried out using an “X’PertHigh score Plus” data processing 3.3.4 Specific Surface
software and the semi-quantitative estimation was based on
maximum intensity measurements on X-ray diagrams. The specific surface and porosity parameters were determined
by the BET method based on nitrogen adsorption and desorp-
tion at 77 K. The sample with a particle size of less than
3.3 Physico-chemical Analysis of Sand 150 mm was degassed at 70 °C under high vacuum for 72
hours, and then the cell is immersed in a liquid nitrogen flask
In this study, several physico-chemical parameters were eval-
[32]. The information was interpreted according to the equa-
uated for each representative sand sample for each zone. Thus,
tion established by Brunauer et al. [32].
for each sample, we calculated the apparent density (D), mois-
ture content (H), swelling index (Ig) and specific surface area
(SBET). 3.4 Chemical Analysis

3.3.1 Apparent Density of Sand A chemical analysis of the Jebel Ad-Darin Sened sand was
performed to identify the percent composition of the oxides of
The measure of the apparent density (D) of the studied sample the samples by atomic absorption spectrometry. This analysis
was realized by determining the volume of a mass “M” of the was performed on 10 selected samples of the various zones. It
sample using a pycnometer [30]. is a method of assaying chemical elements based on the ab-
For the present study, the apparent density is calculated by sorption of atomic radiation in the vapor phase [33]. In this
Eq. (1), so it is the ratio between volumic mass of the sample study, the oxides essentially include SiO2, CaCO3, Fe2O3,
(Msample) and water (Mwater). MgO, Al2O3, and TiO2 [34]. The loss in weight expressed in
(%) is the loss of the weight of a sample after calcination at
D ¼ Msample =Mwater : ð1Þ 1100 °C[35], brought back to the initial weight.
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4 Results and Discussion

To contribute to the development of the sand deposits in the Sened

region, we have undertaken sedimentological, mineralogical and
physico-chemical studies of the samples taken from the various
areas of the quarry, with a view to industrial use. In this section,
we have described and interpreted the main results obtained.

4.1 Sedimentological Analysis

The main objective of the sedimentological study of the Jebel

Ad-Darin sands by grain-size and exoscopic analyses is the
acquisition of useful information pertaining not only to their
genesis, but also to the processes of transportation and depo-
sition involved. The size of sand grains is one of the most Fig. 2 Granulometric distribution of the quartz sand samples from Jebel
important properties as its simple measurement very often Ad-Darin Sened-Gafsa-Tunisia
roughly allows the characterization and distinction of different
types of deposits. These particularities could be correlated transport vector and its sediment sorting capacity [20]. The
with the results of the exoscopic study that shows the mor- sorting (standard deviation) varied from 0.5 to 0.8 Φ.The ma-
phology and micro texture on quartz grains to define the his- jority of samples are moderately well sorted. These results
tory and source of these sand grains. have revealed a good ranking of sands of the studied career
and indicated that the sands are deposited in a calm environ-
ment with a regular transport agent.
4.1.1 Grain-size Distribution
The Skewness (Ski) varies between 0.3 and 1.33 Φ (posi-
tive skewness), which shows that the sands of the quarry have
The particle size distribution in the sediments of Jebel Ad-
a strong asymmetry towards the Small sizes.
Darin of the Sened Orbata formation was calculated using
Kurtosis (KG) values are generally greater than 3 Φ, which
the method of Folk and Ward [20]. The grain size analysis
is an extremely leptokurtic distribution. This curve type re-
carried out on ten sand samples allowed to draw the
flects a deposit of sand in mass by the reduction of the capacity
granulometric curves shown in Fig. 2, and to reveal the
of the transport agent.
granulometric parameters recorded in Table.1.

4.1.2 SEM Study

The mean grain size varies between 0.3 and 0.8 Φ, indicating
that the sediments are of medium to coarse sand grade (> 250 μm). In order to observe the internal micro morphology of the stud-
The classification index or standard deviation (σi) is direct- ied sand, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was carried
ly related to the transport capacity of the erosion agent or out using the “retro-scattered electron” technique because it

Table 1 Granulometric
parameters of Jebel Ad-Darin Samples Median (Md) Mean size (Mz) Sorting index Skewness Kurtosis (KG)
sands in studied localities in Φ units in Φ units (σi) in Φ units (Ski) in Φ in Φ units
units

S1 0.146 0.348 0.542 1.332 3.055

S2 0.455 0.467 0.590 0.409 3.371
S3 0.434 0.434 0.534 0.349 3.009
S4 0.437 0.449 0.582 0.413 3.363
S5 0.45 0.45 0.552 0.358 3.156
S6 0.456 0.596 0.696 0.629 3.132
S7 0.479 0.664 0.775 0.661 3.402
S8 0.479 0.477 0.545 0.796 3.047
S9 0.455 0.487 0.591 0.465 3.432
S10 0.452 0.448 0.589 0.358 3.846
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Fig. 3 SEM microphotograph of quartz sand grains

offers better vision than the “secondary electron technique”. striations and arches and straight bearings on crystalline
Figure 3 shows that Jebel Ad-Darin sand is composed of well- breaks, plate depressions or curved and rarely graduated
crystallized lamellar quartz. It trustworthy to note that arches and V-shaped shock traces, the presence of irregular
intragranular pore spaces correspond to black cavities. The jerk motion on the grain surface, and a strong relief at aver-
observation of the quartz grains on the scanning electron age on all grains. These micro-textures observed on the sur-
microscope essentially demonstrates that the quartz grains face of the quartz grains of the sands of the Jebel Ad-Darin
are angular and sub-angular (Fig. 3) for all the grains of the quarry are very close to the source and are formed during the
samples of the different zones of the quarry. The micro- erosion and alteration of the rocks in place [28, 36], geolog-
textures of mechanical and chemical origins are mainly pre- ical formations of the study area, mainly sandstone forma-
sented by an abundance of large conchoidal fractures, tions of Djebel Sened.

Fig. 4 X-ray diffraction pattern of

sand sample from Jebel Ad-Darin
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Table 2 Mineralogical Analysis

of Jebel Ad-Darin Sand Samples Samples Quartz Feldspar Calcite Clay Goethite
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Career Base (zone 1) S1-1 58 30 10 2 -

S1 62 31 3 4 -
S2 100 - - - -
S3 98 2 - - -
S2-1 99 1 - - -
Middle of the quarry (zone 2) S4 98 - - - 2
S2-2 98 - - - 2
S5 100 - - - -
S6 100 - - - -
S7 100 - - - -
Career summit S8 100 - - - -
(zone 3) S9 100 - - - -
S10 98 2 - - -
S3-1 100 - - - -

4.2 Mineralogy In zone 3, the presence of feldspar mineral with a low

percentage of 2% is observed for a single sample S10. This
Figure 4 illustrates the X-ray diffractograms of an analyzed zone is the richest in quartz with a percentage of 98% and
sample. The semi-quantitative estimation of the mineralogical 100% (Table 2). In Fig. 4, we observe the appearance of all
phases of samples is presented in Table 2. The XRD mineral- the peaks related to the presence of alpha quartz in a sample of
ogical results show high proportions of quartz in all samples, the sand, thus confirming the increase in crystallinity.These
with percentages exceeding 50%. This analysis reveals the results are in perfect agreement with the SEM observations.
absence of several mineralogical phases, such as dolomite
and gypsum in our samples.
4.3 Physico-chemical Analysis of Sand
Zone 1 contains the lowest quartz level (Table 2); 58% and
62% quartz for S1-1, and S1 successively, and very high per-
The results of the physico-chemical analysis obtained from the
centages exceeding 98% for the other samples. However, this
representative samples of the three zones are presented in
percentage varies between 98% and 100% for the samples of
Table 3.
the other two zones (2 and 3). In zone 1, we also note the
Zone 1 has a moisture content of 0.7% which is higher than
presence of minerals such as Feldspar with a percentage of
those of the other two zones (Table 3), which present about
almost 30%, and calcite with a percentage of 10% for S1-1
0.5%. This value is considered as good according to ISO
and 3% for S1 and clay with a percentage of 2% and 4% for
15,512 [37].
S1-1 and S1, respectively. These minerals are absent in the
For density and swelling index, they are the same for the
other two samples from the base area of the quarry.
three zones (2.1% and 4.12%) (Table 3). The specific surface
For zone 2 (middle of the quarry), our samples consist
area of Zone 1 is 0.623 m² / g, which is raised by contribution
mainly of quartz with the presence of goethite mineral with
to the other two zones that are almost 0.47 m² / g (Table 3).
a low percentage of 2% in both samples S4 and S2-2
(Table 2).
4.4 Chemical Analysis of Sand

The results of the chemical analysis expressed as mass per-

Table 3 Results of physical analysis centages of the oxides of 10 samples collected from Jebel Ad-
Darin of the Orbata formation are presented in Table 4.
Property Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3
It is noted that the main constituent in the three zones under
Moisture content (%) 0.7 0.53 0.51 investigation is silicon dioxide (SiO2). In fact, zone 1 contains
Density 2.1 2.1 2.1 lower silicon dioxide (SiO2) content than the other zones. On
Swelling Index (%) 4.12 4.14 4.12 the other hand, it has the highest percentage of K2O, CaO and
Specific Surface (m² / g) 0.623 0.468 0.473 Al2O3 (Table 4). Zone 3 contains a high level of SiO2 and the
highest percentage of Na2O. All zones contain negligible
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Table 4 Chemical composition of sand samples (LOI = loss on ignition)

Chemical composition (wt%)

Samples Fe2O3 Na2O K2O CaO MgO Al2O3 L.O.I SiO2 TiO2 P2O5

Career Base (zone 1) S1 < 0,01 < 0,01 1,55 0,02 < 0,01 2,21 0,82 94,20 0.06 0.24
S2 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,07 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,39 98,50 0.014 0.082
S3 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,60 0,01 < 0,01 0,74 0,68 96,94 0.02 0.065
Middle of the quarry (zone 2) S4 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,38 < 0,01 < 0,01 0.02 0,46 98,12 0.012 0.04
S5 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,30 0.03 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,36 98,25 0.031 0.07
S6 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,25 98,72 0.01 0.071
S7 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,05 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,41 98,53 0.015 0.08
Career summit S8 < 0,01 0,02 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,32 98,54 0.019 0.12
(zone 3) S9 < 0,01 0,03 0,05 < 0,01 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,31 98,56 0.017 0.082
S10 < 0,01 < 0,01 0,60 0,01 < 0,01 0,74 0,68 96,94 0.02 0.065

levels of Fe2O3 and MgO and TiO2 and P2O5 are below 1% very well sorted: more than 80% of the grains are in the range
(Table 4). sizes of coarse to fine sand. The percentage moisture content
The results of the chemical analysis (Table 4) reveal that of silica sand of Jebel Ad-Darin was found to be roughly
although the quality of the silica sand is reasonable, certain 0.5%. Its chemical composition shows maximum silica con-
high impurities make it difficult to produce glass or photovol- tents on the order of 98.72%, with the presence of other oxides
taic cells of superior quality. The major elements, mainly in small quantities. The micrographics observations of silica
(SiO2), ranged from 94.2–98.56% by weight, which gives sand illustrate several irregular morphologies of sand grain.
the sand an additional siliceous character (Table 4). By using X Ray Diffraction analysis, we have detected that in
Although the contents in some samples of Al2O3 (0.01 to the whole study area, there are high proportions of quartz with
2.21% by weight) and K2O (0.01 to 1.55% by weight) are percentages exceeding 98%.
not tolerable, it is possible to eliminate or reduce them. The
average values of Loss on Ignition (LOI) varied between
0.25% and 0.82%.
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