Lafia Fm
Period:
Cretaceous
Age Interval:
Campanian-Maastrichtian
Province:
Benue Trough Central
Type Locality and Naming
Outcrops and sections of the Lafia Formation occur in and around the town of Lafia, and along the bank of River Amba on the Lafia – Doma road.
Synonym: Upper Grits and Sandstones (Falconer, 1911) and Lafia Sandstone (Cratchley and Jones, 1965)
References: Reyment, 1965; Adeleye, 1975; Kogbe, 1976; Dessauvagie, 1975; Petters, 1978; Offodile, 1980; Whiteman, 1982; Benkhelil, 1989; Okosun, 1992; Guiraud, 1993; Akande et al., 1998; Zaborski et al., 1998; Jauro et al., 2007; Obaje, 2009; Nwajide, 2013
Lithology and Thickness
It is lithologically characterized by cross-bedded ferruginized sandstones, red, loose sands, flaggy mudstones, clays and claystones. The Lafia Formation is confined to the Kadarko sub-basin with a thickness of 500-1500m (Offodile, 1976) but only about 50m reported east of Lafia where wedging is apparent. The thickness of the formation range from 500 to 800 meters.
Lithology Pattern:
Sandstone
Relationships and Distribution
Lower contact
Lies unconformably onto the Awgu Fm.
Upper contact
The post-folding Campano-Maastrichtian Lafia Formation ended the sedimentation in the Middle Benue Trough, after which widespread volcanic activities took over in the Tertiary. It is overlain by the Gombe Fm (Gombe Sandstone Fm) or its Paleocene equivalents in different parts of the Middle Benue Trough.
Regional extent
Benue Trough Central. The Lafia Formation is confined to the Kadarko sub-basin
GeoJSON
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Fossils
Freshwater mollusks and carbonized plant remains, Pollen and Spores
Age
Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian; but a hiatus of uppermost Maastrichtian-lowermost Danian is indicated on the summary strat chart of Benue Trough)
Age Span:
Beginning stage:
Campanian
Fraction up in beginning stage:
0.0
Beginning date (Ma):
83.65
Ending stage:
Maastrichtian
Fraction up in the ending stage:
0.8
Ending date (Ma):
67.27
Depositional setting
The formation was deposited under continental condition (fluviatile)
Depositional pattern:
Additional Information
Compiler:
Enam O. Obiosio, Solomon Joshua Avong and Henry Nasir Suleiman (2024)- Stratigraphic Lexicon compiled from the following books:Nigeria: Its Petroleum Geology, Resources and Potential, by Arthur Whiteman, 1982; (Volume 1) Published by Graham and Trotman Ltd.A review of the Cretaceous System in Nigeria by P. M. Zaborski (1998) In Africa Geoscience Review, Vol.5, No.4, pp385-483
Geology and Mineral Resources of Nigeria by Nuhu George Obaje, Published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009; http://www.springer.com/series/772
Geology of Nigeria Sedimentary Basins, Nwajide C. S., 2013; Published by CSS Bookshops Limited, Lagos Nigeria.