Environmental Hazards of Sand Dunes, South Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: An Assessment and Mitigation Geotechnical Study

Abstract

This study presents a concise evaluation of sand dune environmental hazards in Al-Lith area, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), where active sand dune migration forms serious environmental risks. The study area represents a strategic and very well promising area for extension of urbanization. The study area was characterized by hyper-arid climate where wind erosion plays a critical task in the formation and migration of sand dunes. The most frequent forms of aeolian sands are sand sheets, asymmetrical barchans, longitudinal dune and star-like shape dunes. These dunes are composed mainly of fine sands, medium sands and coarse sands with scarcely amounts of silts and clays. Texturally, the sand particles consist of sub-angular, sub-rounded, rounded, angular, well rounded and very angular. These sands are composed of mono-crystalline quartz with few grains of carbonate rock fragments. The environmental hazards of dune migration need integrated studies to assess and reduce these hazards through successfully long-term stabilization methods.