PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF AEOLIAN AND DUNE SAND OF THE REGION 31-33° N, 4-9° E AT SOUTHERN ALGERIA

This study aims to examine the physical and chemical properties of dune and aeolian sands in the region of southern Algeria. The sand sampling were done from three major routes along the distance of 1210 Km, from 15-20 m far from the main road edge each 10 km. A total of 120 sand samples were collected seasonally from (0-20 cm) depth, during the period from autumn 2016 to summer of 2017. Adding to the physical and chemical analysis, the particles of Aeolian and dune sand samples were subjected to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to determine the chemical composition of metallic oxides and concentration of some metallic trace elements (MTE).