ASSESSMENT OF SOLID MINERALS AND ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF ROCKS AND SOIL SAMPLES FROM SUKUR HILLS, MADAGALI, NIGERIA
Abstract
Mineral exploration is a critical component of any economy, and comprehensive geoscience data of a location provides critical information about the location's mineral exploration potential. This study evaluates the mineral composition of the rocks and soil samples from the area covering the Sukur Hill in Madagali, to provide geoscience insight of the area. Untapped rock and soil samples were obtained from five locations and labeled as follows: Sukur east rock (SER), Sukur north rock (SNR), Sukur south rock (SSR), Sukur center rock (SCR) and Sukur west rock (SWR), as well as Sukur east soil (SES), Sukur north soil (SNS), Sukur south soil (SSS), Sukur center soil (SCS) and Sukur west soil (SWS) respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for the identification of solid minerals while X- ray florescence (XRF) was used for the analyses of the elemental oxides. Six minerals were found in the sample locations, according to the spectroscopic analysis. These include: albite, annite, kaolinite, microcline, orthoclase, and quartz. Quartz (36.6 - 100%) was recorded in all locations of the area, while annite (4%) and orthoclase (33%) were only recorded in SER and SCR respectively. The soil samples from the area shows the presence of albite, annite, kaolinite, microcline, montmorillonite, quartz, rutile, tremolite, zircon, phlogopite and calcite. The major and minor elemental oxides in rock samples studied follow the order SiO2 > Fe2O3 > Al2O3 > K2O > SO3 > CaO, and BaO > TiO2 > P2O5 > ZnO > MnO respectively, while the major and minor elemental oxides in soil samples follow the order SiO2 > Al2O3 > Fe2O3 > CaO > K2O > MgO > SO3, and P2O5 > TiO2 > BaO > Zr O2 > MnO > Rb2O, respectively. The elemental oxides recorded in this study compliments the minerals identified in the area. The overall results from this study makes valuable contributions to the mineral deposit assay of the area and this will provide handy information for future exploration.
Keywords: Elemental Oxides; Minerals; Rocks; Soil; XRD; XRF
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