Characterization of minerals in natural and manufactured sand in Cauvery River belt, Tamilnadu, India

The present study investigates the characterization of minerals in the River Sand (R – Sand) and the Manufactured sand (M-Sand) through FTIR spectroscopic studies. The R – Sand is collected from seven different locations in Cauvery River and M – Sand is collected from eight different manufactures around the Cauvery River belt in Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Namakkal districts of Tamilnadu, India. To extend the effectiveness of the analysis, the samples were subjected to grain size separation to classify the bulk samples into different grain sizes. All the samples were analyzed using FTIR spectrometer. The number of minerals identified with the help of FTIR spectra in overall (bulk) samples of R – Sand is 14 and of M – Sand is 13. The number has been increased while going for grain size separation, i.e., from 14 to 31 for R – Sand and from 13 to 20 for M – Sand. Among all minerals, quartz plays a major role. The relative distribution and the crystallinity nature of quartz have been discussed based on the extinction co-efficient and the crystallinity index values computed. There is no major variation found in M – Sand while going for grain size separation.

► The present study investigates the characterization of minerals in the R – Sand (River Sand) and the M – Sand (Manufactured Sand) and compared.
► From the FTIR spectra, 31 minerals alone identified.
► The distribution of Quartz in M – Sand is more or less even in all grain sizes than the R – Sand.
► While using M – Sand no need of going for grain size separation.