Provenance Study Of Bituminous Sands In Eastern Dahomey Basin Sw Nigeria Based On Heavy Mineral And Quartz Varieties

Abstract

One hundred and twenty (120) tar sand samples were collected at 8 localities along the Nigerian tar sand belt for both quartz variety and heavy mineral analyses. The quartz variety study carried out on 30 samples revealed both polycrystalline and monocrystalline quartz types occurring in all samples but in different proportions. Predominating are the subequant with straight boundaries and few scattered vacuoles indicative of the polycrystalline quartz. Forty samples were analyzed for heavy mineral assemblage determination. The separation of these heavy minerals using bromoform (specific gravity 2.85) and slide examination under the petrographic microscope indicated the presence of zircon, rutile, staurolite, sillimanite, kyanite, garnet and epidote. Opaque minerals dominate the assemblage and they occur in significant quantities in some locations. From the results of these analyses, it could be inferred that the bituminous sands of the Abeokuta Group might have been derived principally from a plutonic acid igneous rock with significant contribution from high-grade metamorphic rock.


Ife Journal of Science Vol. 7(1) 2005: 123-130