Evaluation of Dispersion for Soil Properties from Faw City- Southern Iraq

Abstract

Four boreholes were drilled in four different places of the AL- Faw city using a hand auger, disturbed samples were collected at depths of 0.5 and 1.5 meters. The soil of the study area was determined by classification tests to be silty clay, CL-type soil in the Unifined Classification System of Soils. Soil dispersion tests such as the Crumb test, chemical analysis and XRD tests were conducted, and the results of crumb test showed that the soil of the study area was low dispersive from grade 2 except for the fourth site was a non-dispersive soil. The values of Total Salts Dissolved (TDS) in the pore water of the soil, was determined by estimating the total concentration of dissolved cations (Na, K, Ca and Mg) .The ETDA titration technique (for Ca and Mg) and the flame photometer were used to test this pore water (for Na and K), and it showed that the soil of the study area in the four sites within the C zone represented the Intermediate dispersive soil classification chart, and the results from Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) values showed that the soil in the area was dispersive.
 The XRD data showed that the minerals quartz, calcite, dolomite, and clay made up the majority of the soil samples. The principal clay minerals included Smectite (Montmorillonite), Palygorskite and Kaolinite. The results of the Total dissolved salts test showed a variety of the Crumb test for a difference in the soil content of mineral and chemical components. It is necessary to conduct further research on the XRD analysis with detailed interpretation of the minerals present, the importance of clay mineral types like Smectite should be assessed. The study of dispersion processes, the identification and classification of soils from specific tests and the identification of soils are the main objectives of this research.