Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:11:41.349Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The tectonic evolution of the the southern portion of the Benue Trough, Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

S. O. Nwachukwu
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, East Central State, Nigeria

Summary

A reconstruction of the tectonic history of part of the Benue Trough is made from a study of the marine transgressions and regressions in SE Nigeria. Two periods of deformation involving essentially the interaction of continental plates are suggested. The oceanic crust produced by crustal attenuation in the Benue rift is very minimal. Unstable tectonic conditions in the Benue Trough may have created conditions for the development of an evaporite sequence.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, D. K. 1964. Crustal warping, a possible tectonic control of alkaline magmatism. J. geophys. Res. 69, 1103–11.Google Scholar
Black, R. & Girod, M. 1970. Lake Palaeozoic to Recent igneous activity in West Africa and its relationship to basement structure; pp. 155210. In Clifford, T. N. & Gass, I. G. (Eds): African Magmatism and Tectonics. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Burke, K. C., Dessauvagie, T. F. J. & Whiteman, A. J. 1970. The geological history of the Benue valley and adjacent areas. Conf. Afr. Geol. Ibadan.Google Scholar
Carter, J. D., Barber, W., Tait, E. A. & Jones, G. P. 1963. The geology of parts of Adamawa, Bauchi and Bornu Provinces in northeastern Nigeria. Bull. geol. Surv. Niger. 30, 109 pp.Google Scholar
Cratchley, C. R. & Jones, G. P. 1965. An interpretation of the geology and gravity anomalies of the Benue valley. Niger. Overseas geol. Surv. Geophys. Paper 1, 26.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. F. & Bird, J. M. 1970. Mountain belts and the new global tectonics. J. geophys. Res. 75, 2625–47.Google Scholar
Dickinson, W. R. 1971. Plate tectonic models of geosynclines. Earth Plan. Sci. Lett. 10, 165–74.Google Scholar
Farrington, J. L. 1952. A preliminary description of the Nigerian lead–zinc field. Econ. Geol. 47, 583608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funnell, B. M. & Gilbert Smith, A. 1968. Opening of the Atlantic ocean. Nature, Lond. 219, pp. 1328–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furon, R. 1963. The geology of Africa. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Grasty, R. L. 1967. Orogeny, a cause of world-wide regression of seas. Nature, Lond. 216, 779–80.Google Scholar
Isacks, B., Oliver, J. & Sykes, L. R. 1968. Seismology and the new global tectonics. J. geophys. Res. 73, pp. 5855–99.Google Scholar
Hospers, J. 1965. Gravity field and structure of the Niger Delta, Nigeria, West Africa. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 76, 407–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Pichon, X. 1968. Sea floor spreading and continental drift. J. geophys. Res. 73, 3661–97.Google Scholar
Reyment, R. A. 1965. Aspects of the geology of Nigeria. Ibadan University Press.Google Scholar
Reyment, R. A. 1969. Ammonite biostratigraphy, continental drift oscillatory transgressions. Nature, Lond. 224, 137–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, E. D. & Vogt, P. R. 1968. Discontinuities in the history of sea floor spreading. Nature, Lond. 217, 1212–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Short, K. C. & Stauble, A. J. 1967. Outline of the geology of the Niger Delta. Bull. Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. 51, 761–79.Google Scholar
Stonely, R. 1966. The Niger Delta region in the light of the theory of continental drift. Geol. Mag. 103, 385–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, J. T. 1968. Static or mobile earth: the current scientific revolution. Proc. Am. phil. Soc. 112, 309–20.Google Scholar
Wright, J. B. 1968. South Atlantic continental drift and the Benue Trough. Tectono-physics. 6, 301–10.Google Scholar