Mineralogy and geochemical properties of dust storm in Sistan region and Khuzestan Province, Iran

In recent years, dust storms coming from western neighboring countries are drastically increased dust storms and affecting western and eastern part of Iran. This phenomenon is caused a lot of environmental and socio-economic problems. Sistan is a region located in southeast Iran with extensive wind erosion. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis of airborne and soil dust samples from Sistan shows that the dust mineralogy is dominated mainly by quartz (30-40%), calcite (18-23%), muscovite (10-17%), plagioclase (9-12%), chlorite (~6%) and enstatite (~3%), with minor components of dolomite, microcline, halite and gypsum. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses of all the samples indicate that the most important oxide compositions of the airborne and soil dust are SiO2, CaO, Al2O3, Na2O, MgO and Fe2O3, exhibiting similar percentages for both stations and soil samples. However Khuzestan Province is located in southwest Iran with sandy deserts. XRD result from Khuzestan show that mineralogical composition of these dust particles can be divided into three groups: (1) Carbonate group (calcite mineral), (2) Silicate group (quartz mineral) and (3) Clay group (Kaoline mineral). The most important minor phase is Gypsum. SEM studies indicate that these particles were found in rounded, irregular, prismatic and rhombic shapes. XRF and ICP analyses of the samples show that the most important oxide compositions of airborne dusts are SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO and MgO. This research can be help to find the impact of geological units on the wind erosion lands for finding dust storm sources in the states of western and eastern parts of Iran