Today got me here, the central sands of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria...
Field work as it may is the practical aspect of geology which is carried out on the field. As we do say “geology is best studied on the field”.
Several Geologists have worked on the various aspects of Geology in Nigeria. Some are foreigners while some were Nigerians.
However, the Southern part of Nigeria is perhaps the most interesting because the Benin formation is predominantly sedimentary rocks and this report is about a particular area (Uyo and its environs) a place in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria
The aim of this field work is to evaluate the industrial potential of clay in the study area which happened to be Akwa Ibom State.
The study area was within Uyo and its environs, and the geographical location of the area was between latitude 5°00N to latitude 5°05N and longitude 7°54E to longitude 7°57E.
The accessibility of the area is through Calabar Itu road, also along Uyo village road, Oron road, Abak road, Aka road and Ikot Ekpene road.
The relief of the study area lies entirely on the coastal plain of south-eastern Nigeria, around ltu, Itam, Ibiono and the land is intensely dissected into a broken "valley and ridge" terrain, the landscape of the study area comprises a generally low-lying plain and riverine areas.
The study area consists of very rough, intensely dissected terrain, with a landscape comprising steep-sided hills, valleys and narrow-crested sandstone ridges. Settlements in these areas are restricted to a few isolated sites. Agriculture and the road network are also adversely affected. Soil erosion has intensified considerably especially where gullying takes place.
Field Description
The field studies of the area were made on exposed section using surface logging. The activities of gully erosion and villagers in digging of mudpit provided very good exposures of the lithographic succession of the area. The sections were measured on a bed to bed scale, described and sampled. The logging was carried out with the aid of measuring tape calibrated in meter for measuring the thickness of the bed. Chisel was used to chip out fresh samples of the out crop. These samples were labeled using appropriate codes and then sealed in polythene bags.
The logging was carried out with the aid of measuring tape calibrated in meter for measuring the thickness of the bed. Chisel was used to chip out fresh samples of the out crop. These samples were labeled using appropriate codes and then sealed in polythene bags.
Sample Collection
In this study, a total of seven clay samples were collected from the study area. The samples were collected with the aid of the following tools; hammer, sample bags, masking tape, measuring tapes, maker pen and global positioning system (G.P.S) and field notebook
Clay is considered a natural resource, and nature has given Akwa Ibom State in abundant clay minerals. However, this resource is of little or no value when taken from ground; clay companies cannot simply “dip and ship” for this reason, the clay is processed extensively in order to become value – added products used by consumers
Outcrop of clay
that's it for today...moving the samples to the laboratory
