Spectroscopic investigation on Red soil samples from Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu

In this study, the eight different Red soil samples collected in Thiruvannamalai district is subjected to physic-chemical and mineralogical characterizations. FT-IR spectroscopic technique is applied to soil samples to identify the constituent minerals. From the infrared spectrum, the minerals are identified from the absorption frequencies of peaks with the help of available literature. The minerals such as quartz and clay minerals like kaolinite and montmorillonite are majorly present in the samples and also feldspar minerals (orthoclase, microcline, and albite) and carbonate minerals (aragonite and calcite) and organic carbon are identified. Few minerals like chlorite, gypsum, goethite, ilmenite, dolomite, magnetite, garnet, hornblende, kyanite, zircon and magnesiohornblende are identified only in XRD analysis. The performed analyses provided useful information about the mineralogical composition of the red soil samples. FT-IR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction technique seems to be useful method for the mineral analysis of red soil samples