TITLE:
Mineralogical Characteristics of Sabkhas along the Coastline of Kuwait
AUTHORS:
Adeeba Al-Hurban, Fahd Al-Askar, Nihaia Said
KEYWORDS:
Sabkhas, Coastline, Mineralogy, Clastic, Evaporites, GIS, Remote Sensing
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geographic Information System,
Vol.18 No.1,
February
3,
2026
ABSTRACT: Surficial deposits of Kuwait are mostly of Quaternary sediments, including coastal deposits such as sabkha deposits. Sabkha is the English form of the Arabic nomenclature (Sebkha), which means a land of salt and water inmates (salt flat) that intersects with the underlying shallow groundwater table and extends over the high tide level, covered with clastic sediments rich in evaporites. In Kuwait, there are two kinds of coastal sabkhas: clastic coastal sabkhas along the northern coast of Kuwait and carbonated sabkhas along the southern coastal line. This study aims to investigate the mineralogical composition and characteristics of sabkha deposits along the coastal line of Kuwait using GIS and remote sensing techniques. Landsat 8 images, dated back to May 2024, were used, with a map color combination of 4, 3, 2 (True color combination – RGB bands only). The images were radiometrically corrected using the raster calculator to measure the TOA. LST, SMI, and NDVI indices to locate and categorize sabkhas in the study area based on their spectral reflectance, as obtained from satellite-analyzed imagery. Surficial samples were collected from nine locations in the study area and subjected to XRD analysis for their mineralogical constituents. Results showed the absence of evaporite minerals in the surface deposits of the sabkhas as well as the existence of 5 other minerals, with different percentages of distribution. Quartz and Calcite are the only minerals found in all sabkha locations, indicating the predominance of these two minerals in the study area. One of the identified minerals was Petedunnite, which rarely occurs in sabkha environments, suggesting its existence due to provenance transport.