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Origine des minéralisations de Pb-Zn de la Vallée de la Bénoué (Nigéria) d'après la composition en Pb des galènes et de l'encaissant

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Abstract

Lead-zinc deposits are localized within Albian to lower Cenomanian sedimentary sequences of the Cretaceous Benue trough which formed in the middle of the Pan-African Nigerian shield. The ore bodies, which occur as mineralized lodes, are of hydrothermal origin. The mineralization was probably formed at relatively low temperatures (ca. 140°C). Galena samples from the Abakaliki (lower Benue) and Zurak (upper Benue) deposits, located within marine black shales and arkosic sandstones, respectively, are homogeneous in their leadisotope composition. The lead is very unradiogenic (6/4=17.95–18.15) in view of the Cretaceous age of the mineralization and its location within the upper continental crust which was subject to a major differentiation about 600–700 Ma. The lead was therefore derived from a source strongly depleted in uranium when comparing the ore lead with the trace lead of the host rocks and possible source rocks (black shale, arkosic sandstone, Pan-African basement and basalt) the most likely lead sources are the detrital feldspars which were eroded from the Pan-African basement feldspars and concentrated within arkosic series (these series correspond to the whole Albian sedimentary pile in the upper Benue region and to the floor of the Albian marine shale formation in the lower Benue region).

Résumé

Dans le fossé sédimentaire crétacé de la Bénoué (Nigéria), formé au sein du socle panafricain, des indices de Pb-Zn sont localisés dans les séries d'âge albien à cénomanien inférieur. Ces minéralisations sur fractures sont considérées comme hydrothermales et formées à des températures relativement basses (∼ 140°C). Les compositions isotopiques en plomb des gites d'Abakaliki (Basse-Bénoué) et de Zurak (Ha'ute-Bénoué), respectivement encaissés dans des formations marines (shales noirs) et détritiques (grès et arkoses), montrent pour chaque gîte une remarquable homogénéité. Prises dans leur ensemble, elles présentent un caractère faiblement radiogénique pour des galènes d'âge crétacé situées dans un environment de croûte continentale supérieure dont la différenciation majeure s'est produite à 600–700 Ma. Ce caractère comparé aux compositions isotopiques en plomb des roches encaissantes (shales, grès arkosique) de feldspaths du socle panafricain et d'un basalte mis en place dans le contexte d'ouverture du fossé de la Bénoué, indique une source appauvrie en uranium pour le plomb de ces minéralisations. Cette source correspondrait aux feldspaths issus de l'érosion du socle granitique pan-africain et concentrés dans les séries arkosiques; ces séries forment l'essentiel de la pile sédimentaire albienne en Haute-Bénoué et sont localisées à la base des formations marines albiennes en Basse-Bénoué.

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  1. Laboratoire de Géochimie Isotopique, L.P. 361 et U.E.R. 9, Université de Montpellier II, Place E. Bataillon, 34060, Montpellier Cédex, France

    J.-C. Maurin & J. R. Lancelot

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Maurin, JC., Lancelot, J.R. Origine des minéralisations de Pb-Zn de la Vallée de la Bénoué (Nigéria) d'après la composition en Pb des galènes et de l'encaissant. Mineral. Deposita 22, 99–108 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204686

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