Description: The Kampti serie is a volcano-plutonic complex in the south-eastern corner of the Houndé belt, closed to the border with Ivory Coast. The stratigraphy comprises initially: a thick sequence of tholeiitic and pillowed basalt followed by pyroclastic projections derivated from bimodal volcanism; and flowing mostly to the south. The volcanic sequence is cross-cut by mafic cumulate body, stocks of gabbro, diorite, subvolcanic dykes and lately intrude by granitoid. It is bordered to the west by the pelitic schist of the Bambela basin with minor intercalation of Tarkwa type sediment. volcanoclastic facies is dominantly plagioclase-phyric (albite +/- oligoclase), zoned plagioclase has a core of anorthoclase. Secondary mineral infilled (quartz, kutnahorite, ripidolite, clinozoisite) of spherulites and oolite highlight a general low grade metamorphism of greenschist facies affecting the complex. Based on trace element chemistry, the tholeiitic rocks present flat REE pattern contrasting with the felsic rocks more enriched in LREE and depleted in HREE. The style of the magmatism in the Kampti serie is compatible with an island arc model, describe elsewhere in the birimian. Gold mineralisation and base metal occurrences associated to the nature of rocks and tectonics highlight a polymetallic district.

Description: The textural and petrographic characteristics of the soils of the city of Amtiman and their behavior on swelling and shrinkage are presented here. The soils of the town of Amtiman (Chad) have a predominantly clay texture and the clays are mainly exposed on the surface. The results of this work include characterizing the type of clay present in the city. These are the heterogeneous layers of clayey soils consisting mainly of surface-bound illites but also of kaolinite intercalation at depth. These results suggest that the phenomenon of shrinkage of the clays (Illite and kaolinite) of the city of Amtiman is very low and that this city belongs to the sedimentary basin of Salamat.

Description: Hydrochemical investigation of forty boreholes drilled on the basement and sedimentary rocks in Ibadan and Lagos metropolis southwestern Nigeria respectively were carried out in order to determine the portability of the groundwater in both areas and to highlight differences in their chemical characters and variations with seasons. Data obtained indicated that the groundwater in Ibadan area is mainly the Na + Ca – HCO ­­ 3 type, while that of Lagos is Na + Ca – C1 + SO 4 type. The groundwater chemistry reflects weathering of sodic plagioclase feldspars in the basement rocks as well as arkosic sandstone in the sedimentary terrain. The higher chloride (ca. 124.2 mg/L) content of the Lagos water is probably due to salt-water intrusion along the coastal area. Elevated Na + (58.5-1021.2), Fe 2+ (0.3-2.8) and Mn 2+ (0.04-2.34) mg/L concentrations, particularly during the dry season, adversely affect the portability of the water from both localities. Apart from making the water unsuitable for irrigation, high Na + content is considered harmful to persons suffering from cardiac, renal and circulatory diseases. The Fe 2+ and Mn 2+ contents could also create staining problem. It is therefore desirable to remove these elements from the borehole water prior to consumption.

Description: Missole facies description and sequence stratigraphy analysis allow a new proposal of depositional environments of the Douala sub-basin eastern part. The sediments of Missole outcrops (N’kapa Formation) correspond to fluvial/tidal channel to shallow shelf deposits with in some place embayment deposits within a warm and semi-arid climate. Integrated sedimentologic, palynologic and mineralogical data document a comprehensive sequence stratigraphy of this part of the Douala sub-basin. Five facies associations occur: (1) facies association I is characterized by Floodplain deposits; (2) facies association II is Fluvial to mouth bar deposits; (3) facies association III characterise Shallow Shelf deposits; (4) facies association IV represents Distal bay or Lacustrine déposits; and (5) Facies association V is made of Fluvial channel deposits. Six depositional sequences were identified. These sequences are composed of four progradational sequences and two retrogradational sequences containing a fluvial channel portion represented by lag deposits at the base of retrogradational sequences. These deposits represent the outset of the relative sea level rise period. In the study area, the N’kapa Formation is composed of non-marine/coastal aggradational deposits representing the early stage of the regressive period. The occurrence of the estuarine/bay deposits with paleosols development is interpreted as evidence of climate change with significant relative base level fluctuation. The study of key minerals associated to sequence stratigraphy as well as palynology demonstrated that sequence architecture has been controlled mostly by climate evolution and outcrops are dated Paleocene – early Eocene.

Description: The Gangfelum Banded Iron Formation (BIF) is located within the basement complex of northeastern Nigeria. It is characterized by alternate bands of iron oxide and quartz. Petrographic studies show that the BIF consist mainly of hematite, goethite subordinate magnetite and accessory minerals including rutile, apatite, tourmaline and zircon. Chemical data from inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) show that average Fe 2 O 3(t) is 53.91 wt.%. The average values of Al 2 O 3 and CaO are 1.41 and 0.05 wt.% respectively, TiO 2 and MnO are less than 0.5 wt. % each. The data suggested that the BIF is the oxide facies type. Trace element concentrations of Ba (67-332 ppm), Ni (28-35 ppm), Sr (13-55 ppm) and Zr (16-25 ppm) in the Gangfelum BIF are low and similar to the Maru and Muro BIF in northern Nigeria and also the Algoma iron formation from North America, the Orissa iron oxide facies of India and the Itabirite from Minas Gerais in Brazil. The evolution of the Gangfelum BIF involved metamorphism of chemically precipitated or rhythmically deposited iron-rich sediments into hematite-quartz rocks. The banding of the BIF suggested a break in iron precipitation probably due to iron oxide deficiency.  

Description: The Colônia impact crater, developed on crystalline basement rocks, offers an excellent example of one of the most unique features of the impact process: the effects of shock waves on textural and mineralogical changes of the target rock. The impact melt-bearing impactites were derived essentially from the igneous and metamorphic rocks, including granite, mica schist, granitic gneiss, and quartzite. Investigations using optical microscopy indicate that the effect of shock waves on those lithologies caused a wide variety of deformation features and generation of new materials. The most common features include fluidal textures, unusual rearrangement patterns between grains, recrystallization, decomposition and precipitation of new phases, agglutination of glassy and crystalline spherules, and the mobilized melt formed different types of impact melt particles. These transformations cover processes that may involve a new grain growing at the expense of parental grains of the same species, or crystallization of different mineral types from component-providing grains until a complete textural and compositional change of the target rocks occurs. Small-scale structures in deformed rocks are particularly interesting for exploring elastic-plastic deformation, phase transformations, and generation of impact melt products.

Description: Three residual clay occurrences in Papalanto, Ifo, and Imoto areas which belong to the sedimentary basin of southwestern Nigeria were investigated to determine their industrial applications. The samples were pulverized, sieved, digested with mineral acids and characterized. Clay mineralogy was determined using X-ray Diffraction (XRD). Elemental compositions of the clay samples were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). Grain size distribution data were obtained by conducting grain size analysis in two parts; sieve analysis and sedimentation. Thermal properties, plasticity tests, density measurement, linear shrinkage and water absorption capacity were determined to evaluate their industrial potentials. Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) was calculated to determine the degree of weathering in the area . The X-ray diffraction results showed that kaolinite is the dominant mineral, while quartz, anatase and hematite are the major non clay minerals. Chemical data showed that the average values of SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and Fe 2 O 3 were 59.46%, 22.16%, and 3.06% respectively constituting 98.3% of the bulk compositions. Papalanto possessed high plasticity and mouldability. Evaluation of the clay thermal characteristics, firing colour, water absorption capacities and shrinkage values showed that the whitish Ifo clay and Papalanto kaolinitic clays could serve as raw materials for ceramics, building bricks, and other structural wares. Kaolin which is the dominant mineral in all the clays can be used for cosmetics, tooth paste, pharmaceutical purposes

Description: Reviewer Acknowledgements for Earth Science Research, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2017

Description: I would like to extend my idea in this article to over come the first and foremost need of lives which till now exists in the planet earth and no authenticated news of availability in any other planet -WATER and its Conservation. From the water rich sources, we can transfer the water from one place to another without using electricity. This is possible by fixing the pipe lines parallel to the tangential line of the Earth Circle.

Description: Quartz cement forming as syntaxial overgrowths is one of the most abundant cement type in sandstones. The rim and occluding cements develop around the surfaces of frame work grains and fill up pore spaces with no preferred orientation with grain surfaces. Imaging the various forms of quartz cement generation and development in 3D as it increases through time will help in further evaluation and better understanding of a reservoir in deep water sands in Niger Delta Basin. Petrographic analysis was performed on 10 Samples with micron resolutions of 0.675 and 0.337 per pixel. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) using the Cathoduluminiscence (CL) and Back Scattered Electron (BSE) was employed in delineating the detrital quartz from the syntaxial quartz cements. Image J Software and Scandium Software were employed in binarizing the BSE image samples and study the iteration porosity, final porosity and permeability. 3DSlicer software was employed to produce 3D images for better understanding of the impact of early cement in the deep water sands. Two Phase Flow Models was also generated for each samples to outlines the effect of cementation. Quartz cement reduces porosity and peremability significantly at early stages of quartz cementation. Small local quartz overgrowths do join and link together with increasing cement precipitation hence gradually impeding porosity and drastically reducing permeability. Modelled results showed similar trends and this is an indication that when analysing a top reservoir unit, once the cementation is more than 6% the possibility of it being a good reservoir is relatively low.