Study of some structural properties of quartz in the sand dunes of region of Ouargla

Abstract

The characterization of some structural properties of quartz in the sand dunes of region of Ouargla was performed by IR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The FTIR absorption shows that the characteristic doublet for α- quartz at 797 and 778 cm-1. The degree of crystallinity can be found by measuring the absorption ratio. The calculated absorption ratio of =1.5 indictated that the sample exhibits a highly crystalline nature. The observed principle reflections at the d-spacings of 4.2681, 3.3539, 1.8204 Å confirm the presence of α-quartz crystalline structure in the sample. The structural resolution of this phase, carried out with the program Dicvol 06 gave: Quartz (SiO2), hexagonal system, space group P3221 (154) . The calculated unit cell parameters are : a=4.9294 Å, c=5.4093 Å V=113.832 Å3.