Unravelling regolith material types using Mg/Al and K/Al plot to support field regolith identification in the savannah regions of NW Ghana, West Africa

Arhin, Emmanuel; Zango, Saeed M.

doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.09.007

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Therefore supporting the field regolith-landform mapping the ratio plots of Mg/Al and K/Al will provide better characterization and identification of the different sample materials because the footprint of bedrock geochemistry will be reflective in the overlying regolith if in-situ and vice versa [7,17,19,20]. Regolith landform unit classifications are carried out and generally are made to address specific problems and fit for purpose.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exploration companies have loads of multi element data that can be processed, characterized and used to identify the various regolith regimes. As noted by Arhin and Zango [7] determining the regolith mineral composition could be major ways to characterize different regolith materials but the regolith grain fineness hampers their use. Nonetheless in consideration that rock is an aggregate of minerals the geochemistry of the available primary minerals released at the weathering front to the end-regolith-stage during weathering can be used as a broad surrogate for the regolith mineralogy.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Characterizing and Indexing Regolith Materials Using Geochemistry towards Hidden Mineral Anomaly Delineation: A Case Study of Savannah Region of NW Ghana

Arhin¹,

Zango²,

Kazapoe³

2017

ujg

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As the discovery rate of world-class gold deposits continues to decline, increased attention is focused on geochemical exploration methods designed for regolith-dominated terrains. This involves mapping the regolith and classifying the mapping units into different regolith classes on the basis of weathering and geomorphic histories. The challenges of identifying some regolith mapping units in the field by novice in regolith mapping require the characterization and indexing of regolith from major element geochemistry in the regolith profiles. XRF analytical method was used to measure the weight % of the major oxides in regolith samples. The metal weight % of Mg, K and Al were calculated from their oxides and were normalized relative to immobile Al calculated from its oxide. The plot of Mg/Al and K/Al identified the regolith of the study area to consist of 137 transported clays, 4 ferruginous sediments or ferricrete, 2 lateritic duricrust and 4 saprolites. Plot of Mg/Al and K/Al highlighted the compositional variability of the regolith samples and refute the notion of the homogeneity of all the sampled materials in the area. The study thus recognized Mg/Al versus K/Al plots to be used in supporting field identification of regolith mapping units particularly in complex regolith terrains of savannah regions of Ghana and in similar areas where geochemical exploration surveys are being carried out under cover.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%