Petrographic Assessment of Some Industrial Minerals in Selected Part of Southern Benue Trough, Nigeria

Abstract

Some part of the Southern Benue Trough (Afikpo and Anambra Basins) has been mapped to determine the areas of occurrence of industrial minerals and to determine their lateral extent. The result shows that Southern Benue Trough is enriched with mostly industrial minerals of sedimentary and magmatic origin. The magmatism that occurred in the study area and its evolutionary processes led to mineralization of the study area. Interaction of the magma with host rocks gave rise to mineral genesis. The contamination and assimilation processes that occurred in the magmatic stage resulted to enrichment of minerals in the study area. The contact relationship of the magma with the host rock created a contact aureole though the resultant minerals (metamorphic minerals) of the contact aureole are not significant and exposed. The repetitive transgressive-regressive sedimentary cycle that occurred in the Southern Benue Trough probably resulted to the massive deposition of industrial minerals of sedimentary origin. The dominant and significant industrial minerals in Afikpo and Anambra Basins are sandstones (ferruginized sandstone, calcareous sandstones and carbonaceous sandstones), clay mineral (kaolinite), pebbles, igneous rocks of diverse levels of emplacement (intrusive/ extrusive), olivine , hematite, Feldspar, mica and quartz.