Elemental and mineralogical analysis of beachrock in Uswetakeiyawa, Sri Lanka with a focus on developing a sustainable ground improvement method

Abstract

The concept of using biological process in soil improvement which is known as biomediated soil improvement technique has shown greater potential in engineering applications in terms of performance and environmental sustainability. In this research we performed field investigations and laboratory tests to understand the major composition of beachrocks in Uswetakeiyawa, Sri Lanka with a focus on developing a sustainable bio-mediated ground improvement Method. We performed elemental and mineralogical analyses of the beachrocks and seawater in the Uswetakeiyawa beachrock sites. Our focus was on the cement formation mechanism of beachrock. Uswetakeiyawa beachrock composition was mainly analyzed by using Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and scanning electron microscope and its formative environment (Beach sand and sea water) was analyzed using standard sieve analysis, EDTA titrametry. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy(AAS) and Iron Chromatography. Overall values suggest that the studied Uswetakeiyawa beachrock for mation is consisted with CaO and MgO. The observations suggest that beachrock show similarities with Indian and Japanese similar occurrences. The beachrock cement is similar to Aragnite that observed in the majority of the sites globally