The geochemical and geological characterization of clay is an important approach to determining the quality and productivity of clay for industrial use. This paper is aimed at providing detailed geochemistry, distribution, and utilization of clay from the eastern part of Hawal massif. The field study revealed that clay occurs in Bagira, Vimtim, Didif, Bulamary, Ngavahi, Dou-Gada, Madanya, TudunWada, Moda, and Kwabapale. The clays are residual deposits formed by weathering of feldspars from the granitic rocks, the clay deposits are restricted to the basal parts of highly weathered granite. The depth to which the samples were collected ranged from 0.6-1 meter. The clay was analyzed using the Xray Fluorescence (XRF) machine. The average concentration of the major oxides shows that SiO2 is 38.7%, Al2O3 is 9.62%, Fe2O3 is 5.48%, TiO2 is 0.69% and CaO is 0.598% while MnO, ZrO2, ZnO, V2O5, CdO, Cr2O3, SnO2 and Sb2O5 all have lower than 0.07%. This result shows that the clay in the study area can serve as a good raw material for the manufacture of traditional ceramics, refractories, and structural clay products especially burnt bricks.
Read full abstract