Author:
Rahmat S. Tukur, Olatunji S. Ayanninuola, Etim D. Uko, Charles O. Ofoegbu

Doi: 10.26480/jtin.02.2024.35.43

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

A total of four Aeromagnetic Sheets of 1:100,000 scale comprising of Sheets Yuli-171, Futuk-172, Bashar-192 and Muri-193 which covers part of the Upper Benue trough were subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis and interpretation in order to understand the magnetic signature, intrusive magmatic activities, basement structural orientation, basement geomorphology, sedimentary thickness and the relationship between the anomalies to the mineralization potential of the study area. To achieve this, various techniques such as filtering, reduction-to-the-Pole, reduction to the Equator (RTE), spectral analysis were applied to the residual magnetic intensity (RMI) using Geosoft Oasis Montaj softwares. The analysis results shows the variation in depth of the various magnetic anomalies observed with different wavelength which is an indication of their sources depth, the structural trends of the rock in the areas are in the NNE-SSW, ENE-WSW and E-W respectively, and a lot of positive signals from several places in the analytical signal map which is an indication an intense igneous activity occurring as near surface intrusion within the sediments of the upper Benue trough and some part of the bounding basement section which are Sabon Gari, Raramai, Dan, Yuli, Garua, Bashar, Boswas Tukur and the southern part of Futuk which area predominantly basement and the areas such as part of Zurak, part of Wase, Near Ligri, Senge, Pindiga which are predominantly underlain by the thick sediments. The spectral analysis depth for both the shallow 0.23km to 0.43km and deep magnetic sources ranges 3.3km to 5.7km below the surface. The results show that the aeromagnetic anomalies can be attributed to the presence of different lithological units, structural features such as faults and shear zones, and hydrothermal alteration zones. This study provides valuable information for future geological and mineral exploration activities in the Upper Benue Trough and highlights the potential of aeromagnetic surveys in understanding the subsurface geology of the region.