American Chemical Science Journal
4(4): 443-456, 2014
SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Studies on the Quality of Brine from Selected
Sites in Lafia-Obi Local Government Area of
Nasarawa State, North-Central Nigeria
Alao David A.1, Amadi Akobundu N.2*, Alabi Adeoye D.2 and Aminu Tukur3
1
2
Department of Geology and Mineral Science, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
Department of Geology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria.
3
Katsina State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Nigeria.
Authors’ contributions
This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author ADA designed the study, author AAN performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Author AAD paid for the analyses of the study. Author AT paid for fieldwork. All authors read and approved the final manuscript and are paying jointly for the publication fee.
th
Original Research Article
Received 27 August 2013 st Accepted 31 October 2013 th Published 11 February 2014
ABSTRACT
A comparative geochemical assessment of brine from selected sites in Lafia-Obi,
Nassarawa State, North-central Nigeria was carried out in the present study. The study is aimed at determining the quantity, quality and sustainability of the brine for salt production.
The Piper diagram, Stiff and Scatter plots revealed that the water type in the area is NaCl type. The result of the geochemical analysis indicates that the brine from the study area is good for domestic and industrial purposes as it is free from heavy metal and microbial contamination. The present investigation shows that brine from the area can be marketed locally and internationally due to its high quality. It is recommended that the Nasarawa
State Government should establish a brine processing factory in Lafia-Obi Local
Government in order to harness the huge brine deposit in the area. This will bring about socio-economic development of the area in particular and the state in general.
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*Corresponding author: Email: geoama76@gmail.com;
American Chemical Science Journal, 4(4): 443-456, 2014
Keywords: Brine; Quantity; Quality; Lafia-Obi; Nasarawa State; North-Central Nigeria.
1. INTRODUCTION
The evolution of Nigeria Benue trough has been described by several authors among them are [1,2,3,4]. Benue trough is among the sedimentary basins and based on Geology stratigraphy and Paleontology, Benue trough was subdivided into the lower Benue trough where we have the anticlinorium in Abakaliki and Afikpo syncline [5,6]. The middle Benue trough (where there is Keana sand stone and Giza syncline and the upper Benue (where we have Dadylarium syncline and Lariorude anticline). The trough however contains more than
500mm of cretaceous sediment with concentrations of mafic to felsic dykes, sills and extrusive and of important lead, zinc, barite and fluorite in the gently folded Albian exposed on the axis [7]. The Benue trough of Nigeria is a rift basin in central West Africa (Figs. 1 & 2) that extends NNE-SSW for about 800km in length and 150km in width, the southern limit is the Northern Boundary of the Niger Delta while the Northern Limit is the Sothern boundary of the Chad basin [8]. The trough contains up to 6,000m of cretaceous-tertiary sediment of which those predating the mid-santonia have been compressionally folded, faulted and uplifted in several places [9]. Compressional folding during the Mid-Santonia tectonic episode affected the whole of the Benue trough and was quite intense, producing over 100 anticlines and synclines [10,11].
The numerous isolated brine occurrences in the Benue Trough of Nigeria share some geomorphic, geological and tectonic features in common [12]. Evaluation of these features as well as the hydrochemical properties of the brines is important in speculating the origin of the brines [13]. Field observations suggest
