Abstract
In Ghana, a dust-laden Harmattan wind blows from the Sahara in the period November to March. Some of the dust is trapped in the vegetation, in lakes and other inland waters, and a little on the bare land, whereas the rest of the dust is blown further away to the Ivory Coast or out into the Atlantic Ocean. In this project, we studied samples of dust and topsoils in various agroecological zones, from the north to the south of Ghana, focussing mainly on the mineralogy of these materials. Some data about grain sizes and morphology of the samples are also presented. Feldspars, together with quartz, are the common minerals found in Harmattan dust, but the relative contents of K-feldspars and plagioclase vary markedly in the different zones. This variation is consistent with changes in the relative content of the feldspars in the topsoil, indicating a substantial local contribution to the Harmattan dust. This conclusion is supported by the clay mineralogy of the samples. However, the pH of the dust is significantly higher than that of the local soils, indicating that a substantial amount of the dust comes from the Sahara.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Geografisk Tidsskrift |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 9-15 |
| ISSN | 0016-7223 |
| Publication status | Published - 2007 |