GEOCHEMICAL AND MINERALOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CLAYS FROM OKHORO AND OGISO AREA, SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA AND INDUSTRIAL USES.

ABSTRACT

The samples of clay collected from Ogiso and Okhoro lies within Longitude 5⁰ 15’ 0”E - 5⁰ 45’ 0”E and Latitude 6⁰ 15’ 0”N - 6⁰ 25’ 0”N have been analyzed using X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD) which is used to to determine the abundance of mineral present in the rock using X-ray Diffractometry (XRD) analysis. and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) which is used for routine, relatively non-destructive chemical analyses of rocks, minerals, sediments and fluids. The XRF analysis shows that the two samples gotten from Ogiso has (52.90, 55.70,) wt% and Okhoro has (56.38, 54.54) wt% of SiO₂ and Ogiso has (28.49,29.20) wt% and Okhoro has (29.24,27.03) of Al₂O₃, respectively. The XRD analysis shows that the clays samples gotten from Ogiso contain Kaolinite, Quartz, Microcline, Anatase with Kaolinite being the most dominant.From these results, we can say that the clay found in Ogiso are kaolin clays because of the dominant amount of kaolinite present in the Diffractogram of the Area. the clays in Ogiso area can be used for Paint production since it contains high amount Kaolinite (within an estimated range of 30-40%) and its silica content (51.05) wt.% being less than 65% would not be harmful to humans. While the XRD analysis shows that clay samples gotten from Okhoro may be used for the production of paint because their silica content is below 65% but from the diffractogram we can see that samples collected from Okhoro has less amount or no amount of kaolinite compared to Ogiso so they may not be suitable for the production of paint. Clay samples gotten form Okhoro and Ogiso areas can also be used for the production of drugs, ceramics, used for skin treatment, etc.