Author(s)

Roland William Edima Yana¹, Augustin Désiré Balla Ondoa^2*, Lise Carole Okomo Atouba³, Mefire Aminatou Fagny², Armel Zacharie Ekoa Bessa⁴, Nkouandou Oumarou Faarouk²

¹Centre for Geological and Mining Research, Garoua, Cameroon.
²Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon.
³Higher Teacher Training College of Bertoua, University of Ngaoundere, Bertoua, Cameroon.
⁴Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon.

Geochemical characterization in stream sediments from Nyambaka locality was carried out on ten samples collected from the study area watershed. The distribution of trace metals in the sediments showed that some lithophiles (Be, Sc, V, Cr, Sr, Th, U), chalcophiles (Cu, Zn, Ga, As) and siderophiles (Mn, Co, Ni, Mo) have high average contents in the sediments compared to their average concentration in the upper crust. From the factorial analysis of the components, the total variance explained made it possible to represent and capture the main information on the data and to represent them in a graphical frame. Thus, using this graphical frame, the trace elements were divided into four groups opposed to each other. They show an enrichment of stream sediments in group 1 (Cr, Cu, Mn, Be, Ni, Co, Zr, Sr, Ba, Mg) and group 2 (Mo, As, Hg, V, Ag) elements more than group 3 (Ga, Sc, U) and group 4 (Au, Th). Rare earth analysis indicates a high abundance of Lanthanide (28.1 ppm to 42.4 ppm), a high concentration of light rare earth (LREE), and depletion of heavy rare earth (HREE). The variable LREE/HREE (7.24 < LREE/ HREE < 12.22) and (La/Yb)N (6.70 < (La/Yb)N < 11.72) ratios suggest an effect of heterogeneous sorting of heavy minerals with variable enrichment of dense and resistant minerals.

Stream Sediments, Geochemistry, Mining Exploration, Volcanic Zone, East Nyambaka, Cameroon

Yana, R. , Ondoa, A. , Atouba, L. , Fagny, M. , Bessa, A. and Faarouk, N. (2022) Mining Implication in the Geochemical Exploration of Fluvial Sediments of the East Nyambaka Volcanic Zone (Adamawa-Cameroon). International Journal of Geosciences, 13, 361-381. doi: 10.4236/ijg.2022.135020.