Morphological and Mineralogical Characterization of Coastal Soil Samples of Kanyakumari District by FT-IR, XRD, SEM/EDAX

Qualitative analysis was carried out to determine the major and minor constituent minerals present in
coastal soil samples collected from west cost of Kanyakumari District, Tamilnadu by FT-IR, XRD and
SEM/EDAX techniques. From the IR absorption band and the locations of the different peaks, the
minerals were identified with the available literature. In addition to the band positions, the sharpness of
bands was helpful in the identification of mineral components. Identification and estimation of
mineralogical composition were carried out by XRD. XRD technique to yield more information about the
minerals. FT-IR and XRD methods were non destructive and can be used in the identification of
mineralogical composition. SEM analysis showed the coastal soil samples have different morphological
structures like spherical (Al-Si-O), tubular (Si-O), triangular (Fe-Al-Si-O), platy (Ca-Si-O), nearly
spherical (Fe-Ti-O) and irregular (Ca-Al-Si-O) shapes. Elemental analysis (EDAX) confirmed the
presence of silicon in large quantities than the other oxides such as Al, Ca, Fe and Ti.