AL HURBAN A. E. & GHARIB I. M.
Morphological, sedimentological and hydrogeochemical studies of sabkhas in southern Kuwait
Pages 13-18
Abstract
Sabkhas are one of the various types of Quatern ary sediments covering appreciable areas of the surfac e of Kuwait. They are part of a landform sequence extending from the shore line, with barrier islands or dunes, through a lagoon befo re tru ly terrestrial systems are reached. Sabkha surfaces are extremely flat and often extends for 15 or 20 km. Th e sabkha deposits are essent ially compo sed of quartz sand of variable sizes, mixed with carbonate mud and scattered crystals of gypsum, covered by salts and gypsum that are formed after rainy seasons. Some of these sabkhas are bare of vegetation, and others are vegetated. Du e to the nature and mode of occurrence sabkhas are classified into two types: coasta l and inland sabkhas. The sur faces of inland sabkhas are partially covered by active sand sheets caused by northwesterly winds forming blankets of variable thicknesses. The aim of this study is to ident ify the coastal and inland sabkhas and to study the differences in their environments by identifying the main morphological, sedimentological and hydroge ochemical features of these sabkhas.