INTEGRATING AEROMAGNETIC AND REMOTE SENSING DATA FOR MINERAL POTENTIAL ASSESSMENT IN PARTS OF BENIN-ARM, ANAMBRA BASIN, NIGERIA

The need for mineral resources for economic development is key in both developing and developed countries. However, miners usually resort to random excavation of mineral deposits without proper investigation to identify structures of interest in target areas; this usually leads to land depletion and abandonment. The aim of this study is to assess the mineral resources potential of part of the Benin-arm of Anambra basin by investigating the geophysical characteristics of the area using remote sensing and aeromagnetic data. Surface and subsurface regional structures, including intrusive bodies, contacts, faults and mineralisation, were mapped by integrating aeromagnetic and remote sensing data. The mineral bearing zones that show high prospects of mineral deposit in the region were identified. Rose diagram revealed that the surface lineament mainly aligned in the NNW-SSE direction. The orientations of the subsurface lineaments are quite similar to those of the surface lineaments; they aligned mostly in the NESW, N-S and E-W directions. The magnetic intensity ranged between - 431.38 nT and 399.82 nT , while reduction-to-pole magnetic intensity ranged from –416 - 664.45 nT . The first vertical derivative showed magnetic intensity which ranged from –0.5863 - 0.9060 nT km2 . The total horizontal derivative magnetic intensity ranged from –0.00031 - 0.762691 nT km2 , while the analytic signal showed magnetic intensity ranging from 14.0664 - 394,607.3438 nT cm2 . The windowed Euler deconvolution depth to magnetic source showed depth range of 1000 m) are observed in the sedimentary terrain. Mineral exploration should be focused in areas with high lineament concentration due to the facts that lineaments are potential conduits for economics minerals deposition