Geochemical Classification and Geotectonic Setting of Granitic Gneisses from Southeastern Margin of Western Nigeria Basement

Abstract

Chemical whole-rock major oxides and some trace element analyses were done on granitic gneiss rocks located on the southeastern margin of western Nigeria Basement Complex, exposed in parts of Dagbala-Atte District, southwestern Nigeria. This was meant to classify the rocks and to understand the tectonic setting in order to evaluate their crustal evolution. The chemical analyses were done using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer. From the results obtained, these rocks classified into calc-alkaline to shoshonite series with metaluminous to peraluminous varieties, they are I-type granitoids of feroan composition. The granitic gneisses formed from metamorphism of granite and granodiorite. Tectonically, most of the rock samples plotted in the field of island arc, continental arc and continental-collisional granitoids, which indicated that the protolith granite and granodiorite are orogenic and are arc related inferring arc tectonic setting.