Investigating high zircon concentrations in the fine fraction of stream sediments draining the Pan-African Dahomeyan Terrace in Nigeria
- Key, Roger M.
- Johnson, Christopher C.
- Horstwood, Matthew S.A.
- Lapworth, Dan J.
- Knights, Katherine V.
- Kemp, Simon J.
- Watts, Michael
- Gillespie, Martin
- Adekanmi, Michael
- Arisekola, Tunde
DOIAbstract
Sixteen hundred stream sediments (<150 μm fraction) collected during regional geochemical surveys in central and SW Nigeria have high median and maximum concentrations of Zr that exceed corresponding Zr concentrations found in stream sediments collected from elsewhere in the World with similar bedrock geology. X-ray diffraction studies on a sub-set of the analysed stream sediments showed that Zr is predominantly found in detrital zircon grains. However, the main proximal source rocks (Pan-African ‘Older Granites’ of Nigeria and their Proterozoic migmatitic gneiss country rocks) are not enriched in zircon (or Zr). Nevertheless, U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating with cathodoluminescence imaging on detrital zircons, both from stream sediment samples and u...
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