Palynofloral Assemblages and their Paleoclimatic Implication for Maiganga Coal Mine, Gombe Formation, Upper Benue Trough, Nigeria

Abstract

Three of the 24 boreholes that penetrated Gombe Formation have been studied for palynofloral assemblages. The aim is to establish their microfloral assemblages, age, paleoclimate and biozonation. The standard maceration method was employed for the palynological analyses. The studied boreholes (BA-7, BA-16 and BA-17) are considerably rich in palynomorphs which permitted adequate quantitative deductions. Majority of the pollen and spores observed from the study included Proteaciditessigalii, Retidiporitesmagdalensis, Monoporitesannulatus, Cingulastisporitesornatus, Rugulatisporitescaperatus, Scabratiporitesannellus, Proteaciditeslongispinosis, Distaverrusporites simplex and Foveotrilete margaritae. The recovered marker species have been used to date the studied section Maastrichtian age and this agreed with several previous workers. The analyses of the palynofacies were used to interpret the paleoclimate of the studied section as well as zoning the sections into two paleozones, Proteaciditessigalii-Echitriporitestrianguliformis zone and Cyathiditesspp-Laevigatosporitesshaardtii zone. The paleoclimate conditions were inferred to belong to the Late Cretaceous Palmae province.