Lamja Sandstone Fm

The type Locality of the Lamja Sandstone Fm with good exposures in the Village of Chikila, Lamja. The lower sequence is the Dukul Fm followed by the Jessu Fm in the Middle Sequence and Sekuliye Fm at the top of the Sequence.

Synonym: Lamja Sandstone, Lamja Sandstone Fm

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; Ojo and Akande, 2004; Jauro et al., 2007; Obaje, 2009; Nwajide, 2013

[Fig 1. Stratigraphic successions in the Benue Trough and the Nigerian sector of the Chad Basin]

The Lamja Fm consists of a crystalline and shelly limestone, siltstone and yellowish to whitish fine-grained well-bedded sandstone, dark grey shale and dark coals (Fig. 2) deposited in a relatively shallow marine environment (Carter et al. 1963; Nwajide 2013). “ (Sarki Yandoka et al., 2014; whose Fig. 2 shows it as alternating thick beds of sandstone and clay/share with a coal interval in mid-lower part.). Thickness of the Lamja Sandstone range from 150 to 350m. Contains coal deposits.

The Dukul Fm, Jessu Fm and Sekuliye Fm, the Numanha Shale Fm, and the Lamja Fm are the Turonian – Santonian equivalents of the Gongila Fm and Pindiga Fm in the Gongola Arm. The Turonian – Santonian deposits in the Yola Arm are lithologically and paleo-environmentally similar to those in the Gongola Arm, except the Lamja Sandstone Fm.