Structural Geology of the Basement Complex Rocks in Iwaraja Area, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The geological and structural evolution assessment of the Basement Complex rocks in Iwaraja area, southwestern Nigeria showed that the basement rocks comprise quartzites and quartz-schists of the Effon Psammite Formation, quartz-mica schists, biotite schists, migmatitic gneisses, granitic gneisses, late and post-tectonic granitic rocks including pegmatites, which have been subjected to two phases of deformation. The first phase is mainly a fabric forming deformation that also led to the development of moderately plunging mineral lineation. No minor fold of this phase was recognized. The second deformation phase gave rise to the development of Iwaraja (ductile) shear zone. Mylonitic foliation is sub-vertical and steeply dipping and while the mineral lineation is sub-horizontal and shallowly plunging. Within granitic gneiss mylonites, the shear zone is characterised by early and late open to tight folds of pegmatite dykes. Adjacent the shear zone, ptygmatic folds of quartzo-feldspathic veins in gneisses and crenulated cleavages that overprinted earlier schistosity surfaces in the quartz-mica schist also characterised this deformation phase. Extensional fractures in the various lithologies generally show bimodal orientations mainly in the WNW-ESE and NW-SE directions, which are nearly perpendicular to the regional metamorphic foliations. These deformation conditions depict structural features that are associated with internal zones of orogenic belts. Within the study area, the structures document late-Precambrian deformation during the closing stages of Pan-African orogenesis.