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Cenozoic
Cretaceous


Information provided by geoscience team at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria --see About

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Lokoja Formation
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Lokoja Fm base reconstruction

Lokoja Fm


Period: 
Cretaceous

Age Interval: 
Early – Mid Campanian


Province: 
Bida Basin- South

Type Locality and Naming

the type section is located in a stream channel south of the Agbaja Plateau (Whiteman, 1982)

Synonym: Lokoja Series (Falconer, 1911); Lokoja Sandstone Fm

Reference section: Reyment,1965; Adeleye,1975; Dessauvagie, 1975; Kogbe, 1976; 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

[Fig. 1 Stratigraphic successions in the Mid-Niger Basin (also known as Bida or Nupe Basin)]


Lithology and Thickness

the formation is composed of coarse, pebbly and clayey cross-bedded sandstones and a few thin oolitic ironstones and a poorly basal conglomerate. The thickness ranges from 100-300m depending on the depth to the basement (Nwajide, 2013). Bairde (1992b) recognized three distinct facies as components of the Lokoja Fm – alluvial fans facies, flood basin and lacustrine facies, and deltaic facies.


Lithology Pattern: 
Coarse-grained sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Unconformably resting on the Basement Complex (Nwajide, 2013)

Upper contact

Lies beneath the Patti Fm

Regional extent

Southern Bida Basin


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Leaf impressions, Foraminifera (Ammobaculitesplummerae, Spirosplectaminahausarum, Ammomarginulina emir, Ammobaculitescoprolithiforme, Milliaminapetila, M. telemaquensis, Pseudobolivinavariana, Textulariasp., Reophaxminuta, R. guineana, Ammodiscussp.)


Age 

Late Cretaceous (late Campanian; begins with mid-Campanian transgression)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Campanian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.3

    Beginning date (Ma): 
80.21

    Ending stage: 
Campanian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
72.17

Depositional setting

Fluvial-palludal setting with increasing marine conditions northwards (Idowu and Enu, 1992). Alluvial – floodplain and lacustrine – deltaic facies (Nwajide, 2013)


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.