Nsugbe formation (?): A case of non-compliance with stratigraphic nomenclatural procedures

Abstract

The compliance level with the code of generally accepted stratigraphic nomenclature by authors who have introduced, used and disseminated the terminology “Nsugbe Formation” in both national and international geologic literature has been investigated using relevant articles of the American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature (ACSN) and existing field observations/data on the lithologic unit. Results show that the said ‘Nsugbe Formation (?) has never been officially proposed for consideration as a formal stratigraphic unit in any scientific journal (as required by the law) and should not be used as such. Results have further shown that this indiscriminate use of formal stratigraphic names without due diligence is not unconnected with the bizarre absence of neither any official Nigerian code on stratigraphic nomenclature nor any Compendia to record/guard Nigerian stratigraphic names. The case of the Nsugbe Formation (?) is not an isolated incident of non-compliance; it is believed to be one out of a multitude of non-compliant cases, if any stratigraphic watch dog committee were to beam its search light on existing stratigraphic units. The main objections to the acceptability of the formalization of the unit as ‘Nsugbe Formation' (as has been introduced and used), borders on the non-compliance with legal stratigraphic nomenclatural requirements, viz; specifying a Type Section, Type Area, distinct lithologic characteristics, sedimentologic details and its mappability on scales of 1:25,000. Keywords: Nsugbe Formation, Anambra Basin, Type Section, International Code of Stratigraphic Nomenclature, Non-compliance Global Journal of Geological Sciences Vol. 6 (2) 2008: pp. 139-144