Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the coal-forming conditions during Oligocene in Niger Delta, Southern Nigeria: Implications for organic matter preservation and hydrocarbons potential

Abstract

Twenty eight (7 coal, 12 organic-rich and 9 inorganic) cutting samples obtained from six boreholes drilled over a c. 60-km²-large area in the alluvial plain of Niger River between Obomkpa and Issele-Azagba, southern Nigeria, were examined and evaluated by means of coal-petrography, mineralogical (XRD) and geochemical (CHNS, Rock Eval, XRF) analyses. This study aimed to provide an initial assessment of the palaeoenvironmental conditions during the Oligocene-Miocene peat accumulation.

As the samples were received a long time after sampling, moisture could not be determined. The ash and the volatile matter yields of the samples vary from 19.9 to 88.5 wt% (db) and 63.5–67.9 wt% (daf), respectively. Huminite is the dominant maceral group ranging from 60.6 to 90.6 vol% (on mineral matter-free basis), with detrohuminite being the major sub-group. The inertinite content is very low (<1.5 %), whereas liptinite macerals are frequent to quite enriched (8.8–37.9 %) with alginite and liptodetrinite being the most common. The mean random huminite reflectance of all the coal samples varies between 0.32 % and 0.39 %.

As mainly sandstones, intercalated with siltstones and claystones are the main sedimentary rocks deposited in the Niger-River alluvial plain, the inorganic part of all the studied coaly and carbonaceous samples consists primarily of quartz and kaolinite, whereas goethite, mixed clay layers (illite-montmorillonite), anatase and gypsum occur in minor amounts. Accordingly, SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ display values ranging from 9 to 58 % and up to 23 wt%, respectively, while Fe₂O₃ up to 12 wt% and TiO₂ up to 2 wt%.

Palaeoenvironmental geochemical proxies indicate a mixed source area for the siliciclastic facies, with significant recycling and weathering, deposited under a pure freshwater regime. The carbonaceous layers seem to have been deposited in a relative semi-arid climate, while the palaeomires were established under a more humid regime, promoting anaerobic conditions, which is in agreement with the observed very low inertinite content. Facies diagrammes based on the maceral contents were applied to reconstruct the environmental conditions in the palaeomires. According to the TPI vs. GI diagramme, the peat-forming vegetation was mostly herbaceous yielding low TPI and medium GI values, and the conditions were fluvial-limnotelmatic. The GWI vs. VI diagramme points to herbaceous vegetation on the palaeomire surface and mesotrophic water conditions with intense mineral matter influx from palaeo-Niger River. The area received frequent rainfall along with river flooding; thus, peat remained water-logged. Within the several hundred metres thick alluvial sediments, only short periods of limnotelmatic conditions prevailed in the area, yielding coal beds less than 17 m thick. The small number of the available cores distributed over a large area does not allow a more detailed palaeoenvironmental reconstruction.