Within the context of Kuwait’s arid desert environment, the geochemistry of calcic and gypsic soils play a crucial role in shaping and impacting the local agricultural terrain. The stable isotopic composition of calcic and gypsic soils may also be able to identify past climate and moisture sources in Kuwait. These soil horizons are often found with high concentrations of calcite (CaCO3) and gypsum (CaSO4) in soil orders of aridisols due to evaporation rates exceeding that of precipitation. This research investigates the geochemical properties of calcic, gypsic, and saline soils of Kuwait through X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, highlighting the distribution of calcium, sulfur, magnesium and chlorine. High calcium and sulfur concentrations lead to the formation of calcite and gypsum creating petrocalcic and petrogypsic horizons, respectively. Variations in calcium and magnesium also help identify carbonate minerals and possible detrital dolomite that would contaminate oxygen isotope values leading to a misrepresentation of past climates.
Author(s): Anna Shumate, Jason A. Rech, Nasser Al Qattan
Advisor(s):Jason A. Rech, Geology and Environmental Science; Abigale O’Connor, Geology and Environmental Science
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