Mineralogical analysis of plutonic and volcanic rocks at selected slope sections of the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway

The Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway (KL-KH) is the main highway connecting Kuala Lumpur to the East Coast states in Peninsular Malaysia. It traverses three (3) different formations: the Kuala Lumpur Granite, Genting Sempah complex, and Bentong Raub Suture zone. Each formation has a distinctive rock mineral composition and microstructure that determines the strength and kinematics of rock masses. This study performed X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to analyze the mineralogy of plutonic and volcanic rocks from the KL-KH. The plutonic sample at KM29 (GKM29) is an igneous rock composed of quartz, muscovite, and albite, and the volcanic sample at KM93 (LKM93) is rhyo/ite comprising quartz, albite, muscovite, and biotite. Even though the mineral content of both samples was similar, they had different textures and percentages of quattz, feldspar and carbon content. The different texture and percentage of minerals contribute to the stability of the slope. It can be used as an early indicator for slope study.