## 1 Introduction  
There is a wealth of research and activity across the world to combat the threat posed by landmines. Globally, there are over 10,000 casualties caused by landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices each year [1], highlighting how there is still an ongoing need for research in this area. Through the improved understanding gained by this work, better predictive models can be produced to assist in the development of protective systems e.g., demining suits, potentially saving thousands of lives globally. In the context of this work, a buried charge is an explosive surrounded by soil and is of interest due to its potential to cause significant harm to a vehicle or person when detonated. [PERSON] et al. [2] proposed that, in the case of a buried charge, the loading is primarily impulsive due to the material striking the target rather than being due to shock wave loading. This was further verified by others, including [PERSON] et al. [3] who measured both the air shock and the impulse transferred to a rigid target. They found that the air pressure measurements alone were not able to predict the total impulse, including the contribution due to soil throw. Therefore, an understanding of the soil mechanics is vital. The [PERSON] model [2] allows for a first-order approximation of the impulse from a buried charge to be calculated; however, the soil is categorised solely on its bulk density. More recent work has investigated additional parameters, including moisture content [4; 5; 6; 7; 8], void ratio and permeability [3; 7; 9; 10], particle size distribution [3; 7; 11; 12] and soil mineralogy (quartz [3; 7; 8; 12], clays [3; 4; 7] and alluvial soils [8; 12]). In the parameters identified above, there are interdependencies between the different variables; for example, moisture content, air void ratio and permeability are all related to the ratio of air, water and solid particles in the sample. In soil mineralogy studies, the chosen samples vary both in their mineralogy and in their particle size and cohesion, e.g., clay and alluvial soils are highly cohesive when compared with quartz-based sands. When reporting the geotechnical conditions of a burial, researchers typically focus on the properties which are commonly measured such as particle size, moisture content and density. These parameters have been previously shown to govern the impulsive output of explosive charges buried in soils. It has been shown that, in order of importance, moisture content, density, and particle size drive the total impulse delivered. However, particle size does have a dramatic impact on the localised loading delivered to a target, especially where larger gravel-size particles are included. Quartz (silica)-based sands make up the majority of sands in on-shore non-tropical regions. Hence, they have been the primary focus of research when looking at the effect that soil has on the output from a buried charge. The second most prevalent sand worldwide is calcium carbonate, referred to in this paper simply as carbonate sands, which are important where littoral conditions are encountered. Carbonate sands are found where coral reefs have historically been formed and tend to vary dramatically from quartz sands in the shape of their particles, their intraparticle voids and their susceptibility to breakage [13; 14]. This paper presents an experimental investigation into the influence of soil mineralogy on the loading arising from the detonation of shallow-buried plastic explosives (PE4), with a focus on carbonate sands. We aim to show the effect that particle mineralogy has on both the localised loading and total impulse for a single stand-off distance. One characteristic of carbonate sands is that their particles are inherently more friable due to their plate-like morphology [15; 16]. To isolate the effects of particle mineralogy, testing was conducted on prepared soil samples with low moisture contents to enable a direct comparison with the historic dataset on soils from testing at the University of Sheffield [17].