Abstract

The petrography, as well as the major, trace and rare earth element compositions of ten (10) sandstone samples of Maastrichtian Afowo Formation exposed near Igbile, Southwestern Nigeria, have been investigated to determine their provenance, source area weathering conditions, paleoclimate and tectonic setting using petrographic analysis and Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Results of the petrographic analysis revealed that quartz is the most dominant detrital mineral with (86%) followed by weathered plagioclase feldspar (5.10%) and rock fragments (10.9%). The quartz grain is sub-angular to sub-rounded in shape and the sandstones were classified as quartz arenites, sublitharenites and subarkoses based on framework composition of quartz, feldspar and rock fragment plots. This suggests a recycled orogen source for the sandstones and deposition in a humid climate, evidenced by the weathered feldspars. Eleven (11) major, seventeen (17) trace and fourteen (14) rare earth elements were obtained from the geochemical analysis. The major elements values range in concentration from 0.01%–81.39% with SiO₂ being the dominant oxide followed by Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃ constituting over 95% of the major oxides; K₂O, TiO₂, Na₂O, CaO, MgO and P₂O₅ made up the remaining 5%. The average ratio of SiO₂/Al₂O₃ valued 4.31 for the sandstone is appreciably high indicating that it has been heavily weathered. The trace elements range in concentration from 0.2 ppm–1651.2 ppm with Zr being the most dominant element an indication of orogenic recycling. The rare earth elements range in concentration from 0.01 ppm–163.7 ppm with Ce having the highest concentration, depicting that the sandstones were deposited in an oxidizing environment. Also, the trace element relationship illustrated from the spider plot shows chemical coherence and uniformity of the sandstones. The chondrite normalized rare earth elements (REE) plot shows enrichment in the Light REE over the heavy REE for the sediment with strong negative Eu anomaly values between (0.57–0.69) suggesting a felsic provenance derived from upper continental crust for the sandstones.

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