Cenozoic

Cretaceous

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Sakpe Formation

Sakpe Fm

Period:

Cretaceous

Age Interval:

Early Maastrichtian

Province:
Bida Basin- North and Central

Type Locality and Naming

The Sakpe Formation is divided into the Wuya and Baro Ironstone Member, which are lateral equivalents (Whiteman, 1982). The location of the Wuya Member is not clearly stated in literature and that of theBaroIronstoe Member is 1.2km south southeast of Baro Rest House in the Baro area of Niger State.

Synonym: Sakpeironstone, Sakpe Ironstone 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

Wuya Member is of fairly constant thickness and in the type locality it is about 16ft thick and consists of oolitic and pisolitic ironstones with small amounts of locally developed claystones (Whiteman, 1982). The Baro Ironstone Member attains a maximum thickness of 10ft for the exposure section area in Baro and is made up of oolitic ironstones and ferruginous sandstones which are locally concretionary and pyritic (Whiteman, 1982).

Lithology Pattern:

Continental marl

Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Overlies the Bida Sandstone Fm

Upper contact

Liest beneath the Enagi Siltstone Fm

Regional extent

Central/Northern Bida Basin

GeoJSON

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Fossils

Turritella, Faunus, Skolithos, fossil wood, bivalve indeterminate.

Age

Late Cretaceous (earliest Maastrichtian)

Age Span:

Beginning stage:

Maastrichtian

Fraction up in beginning stage:

0.0

Beginning date (Ma):

72.17

Ending stage:

Maastrichtian

Fraction up in the ending stage:

0.25

Ending date (Ma):

70.64

Depositional setting

Marine environment (Late Campanian marine transgression (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.