Open AccessPetrography and Petrochemical Characteristics of Rare Metal Pegmatites around Oro, Southwestern Nigeria
Author(s) -
Abiola O. Oyebamiji
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of energy and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2312-282X
pISSN - 2312-2005
DOI - 10.18034/apjee.v1i1.212
Subject(s) - pegmatite , eluvium , petrography , geology , schist , geochemistry , gneiss , mineralization (soil science) , mineralogy , quartz , weathering , metamorphic rock , soil water , soil science , paleontology
Petrographic and geochemical evaluation of pegmatite bodies occurring as discontinuous dykes have been studied in Oro area of southwestern Nigeria, with a view to determine the compositional characteristics that may be related to Ta-Nb mineralization potentials. They are found intruding semi discordantly, the older assemblages of quartz mica schist and granite gneiss.
A total of twenty-eight samples comprising whole rock pegmatites and eluvial soils were analyzed for major, trace and rare earth elements using (ICP-AES) geochemical method which show the pegmatite samples to be generally highly siliceous with SiO2 values ranging from (71.49-97.77%) with an average of 86.43% in the whole rock samples, and it also ranges from (41.88-57.99%) with an average of 48.43% in the eluvial soil samples, while Al2O3 content is as high as 25.87% in the eluvial soil samples and 6.86% in the whole rock samples depicting the complexity of the pegmatite rock.
Variation plots of K/Rb versus Rb, Ta versus Rb, Ta versus Nb, Ta versus K/Cs, Ta versus Cs+Rb and Ta versus Cs discriminant plot indicate the potentials of rare metal mineralization.