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Ananaba1987 Lineament
Ananaba1987 Lineament
To cite this article: S. E. ANANABA & D. E. AJAKAIYE (1987) Evidence of tectonic control of mineralization in Nigeria
from lineament density analysis A Landsat-study, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 8:10, 1445-1453, DOI:
10.1080/01431168708954788
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INT. J. REMOTE SENSING, 1987, VOL. 8, NO. 10, 1445-1453
S. E. ANANABA
School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Federal University of Technology,
Owerri, Nigeria
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and D. E. AJAKAIYE
Department of Physics, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria
I. Introduction
The exploration of mineral resources has been described as a four-step operation
involving regional reconnaissance, surface and subsurface mapping, ground geophys-
ical surveys and actual drilling (Hunt et al. 1974). Since ground geophysical surveys
and research depend on the first two steps mentioned above, to achieve better targeting
of the resources being sought for a reasonable knowledge of possible factors that may
indicate these resources has become necessary.
A mineral indicator has further been defined as any physical or chemical
phenomenon which has been found to correlate with known mineral occurrences
(Rubin 1979). Some indicators that have been found useful in the exploration of
minerals include faults, fractures, linears, arched or domed strata and oxidized and
hydrothermally altered areas (Peterson 1976). Proven relationships do exist between
known mineral deposits and certain types and directions of lineaments (Lattrnan 1973,
Offield et al, 1977. O'Leary and Simpson 1977).
1446 S. E. Ananaba and D. E. Ajakaiye
geologists, geophysicists and resource planners. The compilation of the lineament map
was limited to all the scenes north of 8° latitude because of the excessive amount of
cloud cover and poor image quality south of this latitude (figure I). A total oDO scenes
were used (figure 2) and all interpretations were made monoscopically.
The criteria used for the identification of lineaments include two major surface
features. These are geomorphic (caused by relief) and tonal (caused by contrast or
tonal differences) (Sabins 1978). Geomorphic features include land forms, linear
boundaries between different types of terrain, straight stream valleys and alignment of
minor stream segments. Tonal features include straight boundaries between areas of
contrasting tone.
"Each-suspected lineament or curvilinear was checked and re-evaluated using
all the four Landsat spectral bands 4, S, 6 and 7 and the geological maps. Avail-
able topographic and road maps were also consulted because linear roads, scan
lines and aircraft traces could easily be mistaken for lineaments. The lack of detailed
and up-to-date topographic and road maps could be said to be one of the limitations of
the exercise. All the information obtained from all Landsat frames and transferred on
to matte acetate papers were used to prepare a mosaic of lineaments. The resulting
mosaic was matched with the geological map at the same scale as shown in figure 3. It
was found that a disparity of about 3 min existed between the location of some well-
known structures on the geological map, particularly some of the younger granite ring
complexes in Central Nigeria and the same structures as identified on the Landsat
images. The accuracy of the matching between the Landsat grid and the geological
maps could therefore be said to be better than 9S per cent. It should however be noted
that only lineaments longer than or equal to S km were mapped from the images at the
given scale. This threshold of linear length may seem too low for the scale used, but it
was considered realistic for the area because the good rock exposures in the area made
it possible to identify unambiguously well-known features like dikes of known lengths
over some of the younger granite ring complexes.
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It has to be indicated also that the accuracy of the lineament map as interpreted is
very much limited by the lack of adequate facilities for the enhancement of the images.
Enhancement was achieved by the use of an illuminated large magnifying mirror of
15ern diameter. The quality of the mosaic could have been equally enhanced if
transparencies or negatives have been acquired rather than prints. This would have
enabled the density and scene contrasts to be controlled in the dark room to provide
uniform prints for the mosaics since all the images were not acquired the same day
along each orbit path. The side lap of adjacent orbit paths and the about 10 per cent
forward overlap of consecutive images have greatly facilitated the mosaic compilation.
Furthermore, attempts have not been made to classify the lineaments either as faults,
joints, etc. Only detailed ground geological and geophysical follow-up can distinguish
between them.
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W4-t-----, - - - - +.... E
s
Figure 4. Rose diagram showing distribution of lineaments over Nigeria.
1450 S. E. Ananaba and D. E. Ajakaiye
lineaments within a specified unit area of the grid (Karcz 1978). Quantitative
presentation and interpretation of lineament distributions, particularly in relation to
mineral deposits, can be achieved by first computing the lineament densities at grid
intervals over the study area and subsequently presenting the data in the form of a
contour map. Such a map could be compared with the available mineral map of the
area to see whether any correlation exists between identifiable trends and known
mineral deposits, and to speculate on the possible areas of search for new ore deposits.
This method has been applied to further analyse and interpret the lineament map
shown in figure 3.
0
The project area was first divided into 51 I" x 1 cells with each cell having an area
ofapproximatcly 12 100 m 2 (110 by 110 km squares). The summed length in kilometres
of the lineaments within each cell was divided by the area of the cell and the result
plotted at the centre of each cell. The exercise was carried out for all the cells and the
resulting plots contoured at 0·005 contour intervals. The result is shown in figure 5. It
should be noted that more data points would have resulted if the grid size had been
smaller. However, for regional studies such as this, the lOx 10 grid size was considered
adequate.
14".-'i=----r---:+-"..,,-r--.;..:---r--~-....,..--r_:_-....,....---'F_-.-"'T""--,
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mineral map (figure 6) reveals some remarkable correlations between the areas of high
lineament densities and the areas of known primary mineral occurrences. The areas of
high mineral densities cover parts of the Kwara, Plateau, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gongola
and Bauchi States. These are the areas where major minerals such as iron, cassiterite,
gold, lead-zinc and uranium are either being mined at present or are suggested by
reconnaissance geological and geophysical work. They also fall along the
7 9 11 1 3°
10
L E GEN 0
• Mineral Occurrences Investigated in Detail
~ Mineral Occurrences PortiOlly Investigated
o Minerol Occurrenc es Found in Traces
Am Am ethyst Fs Feldspar Sn Cassi terite
Au Gold K Kyanite. T Tant~lite
Ba Barite Mo Molybdenite U Uranium
Bi Bismuth Nb Col urn bit e W Wolfram
Cu Copper PblZn Lead_Zinc s: Sillimanite
fe tr o n ---- State boundary
10 14°E
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_ 13°N
10
o
LEGEND
• Basalt
Deretaceous and Post
OCretaceous Ssdirnents
DBasement ROcks
___Strike of Bedding
"""" l.eud., Zinc Mineral
Acknowledgment
This work benefited from the fruitful discussions with Professor Peter Pal of the
Department of Geology, University of Tlorin, Nigeria.
References
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Tectonic control of mineralization in Nigeria 1453
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ERNST, J. A., 1975, A different perspective reveals air pollution. Weather-wise, 28, 215-216.
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