Palynology, Palynostratigraphy and Paleoenvironmental Analysis of Maiganga Coal Mine, Gombe Formation, Nigeria

Onoduku U.S,Okosun E.A

doi:10.13189/ujg.2014.020302

Abstract

Palynological analysis provides data for determinations of ages, palynostratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the studied parts of Gombe Formation (around Maiganga coal mine) in the Upper Benue Trough. The studied sections of the formation were sampled from the drilled cores of the strata derived from the coal exploration drilling project carried out at Maiganga. A total of 174 core samples from three boreholes that penetrated the strata have been studied for their palynofloral contents and the results used to date, zone and interprete the paleoclimatic conditions of the paleoclimatic conditions of the studied strata. The aim was to establish their microfloral assemblages, age, paleoclimate and biozonation. The standard maceration method was employed for the palynological analyses employing both acid and hydrogen peroxide as the processing media. The studied boreholes (BA-7, BA-16 and BA-17) were considerably rich in palynomorphs especially the samples processed with H2O2. Majority of the pollen and spores observed from the study included Proteacidites sigalii, Retidiporites magdalensis, Monoporites annulatus, Cingulastisporites ornatus,Rugulatisporites caperatus, Scabratriporites annellus, Proteacidites longispinosis, Distaverrusporites simplex and Foveotrilete margaritae. The recovered marker species have been used to date the studied section Early-Late Maastrichtian. The analyses of the palynomorphs were used to interpret the paleoclimate of the studied sections as well as zoning the sections into two palyzones, Proteacidites sigalii-Echitriporites trianguliformis and Cyathidites spp-Laevigatosporites haardtii zones. The paleoclimatic conditions were inferred to belong to the Late Cretaceous Palmae province.

Highlights

Palynological studies have become valuable tools and universally accepted methods of evaluating the stratigraphy and source rocks potentiality of sedimentary basins
Palynology deals with the study of plant remains in the sedimentary successions and their applications in biostratigraphy
According to [3], despite the work by earlier workers, there exist some stratigraphic gaps that require further studies to be filled up. These gaps include the non inclusion of the coal facies in the stratigraphy of Gombe Formation

Summary

Introduction

Palynological studies have become valuable tools and universally accepted methods of evaluating the stratigraphy and source rocks potentiality of sedimentary basins. A lot of contributions to the understanding of depositional environments and stratigraphy of the Gombe Formation (Maiganga coal mine inclusive) have been made by several previous workers [1, 2 and 3]. According to [3], despite the work by earlier workers, there exist some stratigraphic gaps that require further studies to be filled up. These gaps include the non inclusion of the coal facies in the stratigraphy of Gombe Formation. These gaps may be attributable to lack of subsurface samples and data which were not available to the earlier authors as occasioned by lack of available boreholes that penetrated Gombe Formation as at the time of their studies. This study was undertaken to fill the missing stratigraphic gaps

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion