Mineral analysis and physical characteristics of beach sands in latuhalat and suli village to support the beach geotourism of the Maluku province

Abstract

From the aspect of the earth, the Maluku islands are a unique formation. Because Maluku is at the confluence of four world plates (Indo-Australian plate, Pacific plate, Philippine sea plate and Eurasian plate) so it has an interesting geological structure. One of unique formation is having thousands of islands with charming white sand beaches. White sand beaches are part of the geotourism diversity in Maluku, so research is conducted at Latuhalat (Santai and Namalatu beaches) and Suli (Natsepa beach) which aim to identify the shape and size of beach sand, analyze mineral content using the X-RD and X-RF methods. The results showed the shape of sand grains in the Santai and Namalatu beaches of Latuhalat Village were identified as oval-shaped irregularly with an average size of Santai sand grains of 0.12 mm and Namalatu sand of 0.21 mm. While the shape of sand grains in Natsepa beach, Suli Village was identified as spherical with an average grain size of 0.10 mm. Beaches in the three locations are classified as types of sandy beaches (sand sediments) with sandstone rock types. Sand on the Namalatu beach, Santai beach, and Natsepa beach has very fine to medium grain size andcontains Aragonite (CaCO3) and Quartz (SiO2) minerals that are dominant. The shape and size of the grains of sand and its constituent minerals are very good to support the Namalatu and Santai beach geotourism in Latuhalat Village and Natsepa beach in Suli Village.