Quality of Solid Minerals in Rocks and Soils of Mubi South Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is richly endowed with huge solid mineral deposits; there is need therefore, to identify the different types of solid minerals in rock and soil of Mandara Mountains in Mubi region and also to assess their quality by determining their elemental compositions. The quality of solid minerals in soils and rocks of Mubi South local government area of Adamawa state in Nigeria was studied. Thirty samples, fifteen each of soil and granite rocks were collected from the sampling areas and the elemental composition was determined using the X–Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscopy (Axios cement Pan Analytical model), while the mineral identification was done using X- Ray Diffraction (Rayon’s model). The results of the chemical analysis showed that all the areas sampled contained silicate rocks, because of their high silica contents ranging from 69.23±1.00% to 75.57±1.02% and 60.65±1.00% to 68.20±0.80% in granite rock and soil samples respectively.  However, the result from XRD indicated high percentage of quartz, feldspar and other minerals as microcline, albite and orthopyroxene Crystallographic parameters of all the identified minerals are hexagonal, anorthic, orthorhombic and rhombohedral. Most of the soil samples contained higher percentage of Al2O3, K2O and Fe2O3 than the rock samples, while the rock samples showed higher percentage of SiO2 and Na2O than the soil samples, the comparative analysis between rocks of this area and similar rocks elsewhere, showed that, they competes favourably with respect to their chemical compositions. Based on the analysis, the principal rocks commonly found in the study area are granite and rhyolite.