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ABSTRACT
Geochemical investigations were carried out on marble deposit in Ubo and Ikpeshi areas, Edo-kogi State, Nigeria, in order to use the geochemical analysis of the major elements to characterize the marble deposits of Ubo and Ikpeshi and also to determine the paleo depositional environment of the original sediments. A total of fourteen samples with Seven each from Ubo marble and Ikpeshi marble were subjected to X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometry. The field occurrence from the Ubo marble shows that the marble deposit occurs as a lensoid body within the younger metasedimentary sequence. The marble is whitish in colour, coarse grained in texture. The major element composition of the marble deposit has a mean chemical composition of CaO (51.97 and 54.73 %), MgO (3.0 and 0.49 %), SiO2(0.74 and 0.70%), K2O (0.08 and 0.04%), Na2O (1.70 and 0.02%), Al2O3 (0.75 and 0.25%), Fe2O3 (0.34 and 0.25%), and Loss on Ignition - L.O.I (43.34 and 49.31%) in Ubo and Ikpeshi marbles respectively. The alkalis concentration in these marbles tend to decrease with increase in salinity .The low values of the total alkali content in the two marble indicates that the environment of deposition of the original carbonate materials that were metamorphosed to marbles in the two marble bodies, must have been a shallow, highly saline environment with probably little influx of salty brine water in the Basin. The similarity between the two masses of the marble is apparent from the similarity in trend in the geochemical plots of the major element oxides. Most of the major element oxides show a negative correlation relative to SiO2, this probably reflects the admixture of the carbonates with chert. The trend of the plots of Na2O + K2O vs. SiO2 for the two marble shows a variation in the salinity. The high value of CaO indicates that the Basin was formed in a shallow marine environment with high precipitation of CaO and low MgO translate low dolomite content and low Al2o3 indicate low energy environment in the Basin. The major element composition of the marble deposit shows it is calcitic in nature.
