Geology and depositional environment of the Ameki Formation in parts of Bende and environ Southeastern Nigeria

Project Report from the year 2017 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Geology, Mineralogy, Soil Science, grade: 5.0, , course: Geology, language: English, abstract: This study is aimed at determining the geology and depositional environment of Ameki Formation in Bende and environs through field descriptions, textural analysis and Palynological analysis. The mapped area which covers an area of about 180sq km and is located around Bende, southeastern Nigeria. The study area is bounded by Longitude 07° 30` E and 07° 43` E and Latitudes 05° 30` N and 05° 39` N. The area is underlain by Paleocene Imo Formation and Eocene Ameki Formation. The Ameki Formation is a clastic unit that overlies the marine Imo Formation and it consists of sandstone, shales, limestone, ironstone and siltstones. The Eocene Ameki Formation in southeastern Nigeria consists, in its type locality of five lithologic units; calcareous sandstone, pebbly bioturbated sandstone, grey-dark shale, argillaceous sandstone and pebbly sandstone. The floral, faunal and lithologic studies of the Eocene Ameki Formation suggest sediments deposited in a continuity from nearshore (barrier-ridge estuarine complex) to shallow marine (intertidal and subtidal zones) environment. The sieve analysis unveils that the univariate parameters indicate a fluvially intercepted shallow marine environment with tidal crosscuts, the log probability plots suggest tidal environment while from the bivariate plots; a beach influenced fluvial environment is interpreted. The pebble morphological analysis showed that the pebble clast have being shaped by beach action as revealed by the bivariate scatter plots of pebble form indices while in multivariate aspect a fluvially dissected shallow marine environment with tidal interferences was interpreted. The palynological analysis indicated a marginal marine source for the sediment and that the formation (Ameki) is Eocene in age.

I have being in the Industry for more than 2years now, i worked with Ansett Integrated Service Company in Port Harcourt as an Intern for 12months, here i acquired expertise in Coring, Core analysis and Core management. i have worked with the Oranto, Atlas Petroleum Company as Intern Field Geologist, for 2months, here i mapped the Eocene Formation outcropping in the Ukpo area, recently, I have also worked with the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company(PPMC) which is a subsidiary of NNPC, as an Intern, for 12months from which i gained experience in Pipeline Pressure Monitoring, Machine maintenance, Pipeline repairs and Fluid flow Mechanics. I was present at the 53rd International Conference of the NMGS at Abuja, i was privileged to present my paper titled " Geotourism potentials of some parts of Nigeria", it was tedious you know, question coming from here and there, but i was able to attempt some of them and it was a success. I was awarded 2nd Prize for the Prof. Ajakaiye, D.E. Award of the NMGS for the second best paper. The paper gives a qualitative research approach to discuss the geotoursim potentials of Nigeria. Geotourism is the tourist sites created or unveiled by geological and geomorphological processes. Different geotouristic sites were selected from the six geopolitical zones in the country and were used to decipher the geotourism potentials of Nigeria. If Nigeria should get it geotourism sector right, it will foster investment, create job opportunity and will serve as a means of diversification and total national development.