Abstract: Chemostratigraphy, Petrology and Reservoir Rock Potential of Cretaceous Rocks in the Lower Part of the Middle Benue Trough, Nigeria

TAVERSHIMA, NAJIME, Department of Geology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria

The Benue trough of Nigeria is a Cretaceous sedimentary basin filled with marine and fluviatile sediments ranging from Albian to Maastrichtian in age. The Marine Sediments, (Asu river group and Cross River group) are overlain by the fluviatile deposits of the Lafia formation. The marine sediments especially shales and limestones are rich in microfauna and macrofauna are suspected to be potential hydrocarbon source rocks while the limestone and the sandstones could act as reservoir rocks.

The present work covers the lower part of the Middle Benue Trough. The objective is to study the sequence stratigraphy based on chemostratigraphy, Lithology, clay mineralogy and sedimentological aspects. The sedimentological studies will also be used to interpret the reservoir rock potential of the area.

So far, the stratigraphy of the area has been established based on Lithofacies, this is followed by studies of trace elements geochemistry of manganese and Iron, the integration of the geochemistry into the sequence-stratigraphic frameworks shows an interesting results relating the fluctuation of manganese and iron against the sea level changes. Further work on stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon and on clay minerals, sedimentological studies would be used to support the sequence stratigraphic interpretation and the study of reservoir rock potential of the area.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90931©1998 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid