SEDIMENTARY CHARACTERISTICS AND PROVENANCE STUDY OF PART OF THE NIGER DELTA BASIN: A CASE STUDY OF EKIADOLOR AND ITS ENVIRONS
Abstract
Integrated lithology, textural, heavy mineral and paleocurrent data were used to document the sedimentary characteristics and provenance history of the strata outcropping in the Ekiadolor and its environs in the Niger Delta Basin, Nigeria. Field geological study of the area revealed the lithology to be dominantly of sandstones, clay and shale with few mudstones and sparsely fossilized. Grain-size distribution analysis revealed the sandstones to have a mean ranging from 0.5667 -1.8500 indicating coarse to medium grains, standard deviation 0.6989- 1.9159 indicating moderately well-sorted to poorly sorted, skewness ranging from -0.1910 – 0.3473 indicating coarse skewed to strongly fine skewed, and 0.9979 – 5.7377 indicating mesokurtic to extremely leptokurtic. The heavy mineral studies revealed the study area to contain zircon, rutile, tourmaline, sillimanite, garnet, apatite and opaque minerals. The maturity index of the sandstones ranging from 71.8 to 75 % from the study area revealed the sediments from the study area are mineralogically moderately to very mature, approaching the threshold of high maturity. The depositional environments of the study area are deciphered based on the field and grain size distribution studies the depositional environments for the study area are fluvial-coastal and lacustrine environments influenced by river systems with periodic flooding. The sediments are thought to have been derived from high-grade metamorphic rocks or probably recycled sedimentary rocks. The high abundance of ultrastrable minerals the zircon, tourmaline, and rutile indicates long transport distances with significant chemical weathering possibly from multiple sedimentary cycles derived from stable continental sources from felsic igneous rocks including granites. The ancient rivers travelling from the southwest transported the sediments into the study area for the Benin Formation and northwest and southeast for the Ogwashi Formation.
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