Petrographic Analysis of Rocks in Tanah Puteh and Pulai, Gua Musang, Kelantan

Abstract

Gua Musang, Kelantan is well known with diversity of rock associations and also rich in mineral resources such as gold and feldspar according to the existence of active mining sites in this area. The diversity of rock associations in Pulai and Tanah Puteh, Gua Musang have been identified and sampled for this study. The objectives are to determine the mineral association and its composition in various rock types as well as its distribution within these areas. Rock and soil samples have been collected for further analyses using petrography and geochemical analysis respectively. Limestone, tuff, shale, chert, phyllite are amongst of the rock types that have been sampled in this study area. The properties of mineral association in the thin section samples (from the rock samples) have been observed in details using optical microscope. Meanwhile, the results of x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis for selected samples have shown that the SiO2 were ranging between 66 to almost 80 wt.%, and Al2O3 varied from 17 to nearly 26 wt.%. The correlation of the mineral composition from chemical analysis are found in accordance with the mineral existence based on the petrographic studies on selected thin sections from Pulai and Tanah Puteh.