ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY AND HYDROGEOLOGY

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

            Economic geology deals with the various economic deposits in our environment. In the course of the field mapping, some economic rock deposits were discovered in the study area, some of which were already being exploited. Some of these economic rocks are excavated and used in road construction and locally in construction of mud houses which are common in the villages. Some of these economic rock deposits include the following:

Pyroclastics

            In the study area, there are outcrops of pyrodastics which is as a source of raw materials for construction of roads, house, bridges and culverts etc.

            People living in the villages around the quarries are employed to work and they are paid daily. Thus, the presence of this economic rock deposit has provided job employment for the inhabitants.

Shales And Laterites

            Laterites in the study area form as a result of chemical weathering (oxidation). laterites are excavated and used in road construction and also in construction of mud houses.

            Shales is the most common in the study area. The indurated shales are quarried and used also in constructions. While the fissile shales are used in constructing mud houses.

NOTE: Shale is mainly of a geological significance thus, geologically, shale not only serves as trap for hydrocarbon but also it helps in the preservation of fossil e.g Ammonites. Also shale help in the development of springs wherever its contact with permeable sandstone becomes exposed to the surface.