Abstract
The marble deposits at Ubo and Ikpeshi areas of Edo state, Southwestern Nigeria, were studied in order to determine the major elements and the paleo-depositional environment of the original sediments using standard methods. Results obtained using test of difference between Ubo and Ikpeshi marbles showed that CaO (51.977±0.922 & 54.726±0.23), MgO (3.034±0.829 & 0.499±0.115), Na2O (1.7±0.73 & 0.024±0.008), MgCO3 (6.337±1.734 & 1.034±0.238), Cu (24.589±0.692 & 27.447±0.711), Ni (23.907±0.854 & 30.979±0.494), all for Ubo and Ikpeshi respectively; with Ni showing highest significance with P<0.01. The Ubo marble deposit occurs as a lensoid body within the younger metasedimentary sequence. The major element composition reveal a mean chemical composition of CaO (51.97 and 54.73 %), MgO (3.0 and 0.49 %), SiO2 (0.74 and 0.70%), K2O (0.08 and 0.04%), Na2O (1.70 and 0.02%), Al2O3 (0.75 and 0.25%), Fe2O3 (0.34 and 0.25%), and Loss on Ignition - L.O.I (43.34 and 49.31%) in Ubo and Ikpeshi marbles respectively, which is indicative that the marble samples were all calcitic. The low values of the total alkali content in the marble samples from the two locations indicate that the environment of deposition of the original carbonate materials that metamorphosed into marbles from both locations must have been a shallow, highly saline environment with probably little influx of salty brine water in the basin. Silica was used as an abscissa in these plots because it shows substantial variations among the marbles with most of the linear relationship between silica and the various oxides showing negative correlation, this probably reflects the admixture of the carbonates with chert. The trend of the plots of Na2O + K2O vs. SiO2 for the marbles from both locations show a variation in the salinity.
 Keywords: Ubo, Ikpeshi, Marble, Marine Environment, Metasedimentary
Highlights
IntroductionIn “Petrogenetic and distribution of trace and rare elements in the marble from Igarra Area, Southwestern Nigeria” (Obasi and Ogungbuyi, 2013) determined the multivariate statistical analysis and upper background methods and used them to interpret geochemical data of the trace and rare elements in the marble from Igarra in order to determine the provenance and elemental mineralized anomalies
Shallow marine possibly an off-shelf depositional model for the deposit
Description of the Study Area: The study area Ubo and Ikpeshi belongs to the Southern basement complex of Nigeria which is underlain by metasediment. (Madhavaraju and Rahmasamy, 1999)
Summary
In “Petrogenetic and distribution of trace and rare elements in the marble from Igarra Area, Southwestern Nigeria” (Obasi and Ogungbuyi, 2013) determined the multivariate statistical analysis and upper background methods and used them to interpret geochemical data of the trace and rare elements in the marble from Igarra in order to determine the provenance and elemental mineralized anomalies. Carried out geochemical and physical analysis on carbonate rocks and observed that these samples were low in SiO2 (1.8-4.83 wt %), Al2O3 (0.6-0.6 wt%), MgO (1.10-5.33 wt%), relatively high to medium CaO (46.51-53.06wt%), low dolomite CaMg(CO3) (2.30-11.14 wt%) and the corresponding CaCO3 (85-94.68 wt%). Physical test showed that these samples have high compressive and tensile strength which are expression of their durability and hardness potential
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