African Journal of Geography and Regional Planning ISSN 3627-8945 Vol. 7 (11), pp. 001-013, November, 2020. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Determination of the Source and Depositional Environment of Sediments of Lake Bosumtwi using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Techniques

S. K. Danuor¹, W. Dzirasah^1,2 and J. E. Peck²

¹Department of Physics, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

²Department of Geology, University of Akron, Akron, USA

Accepted 03 April, 2020

Abstract

The source and depositional environment of the top 2 – 8 cm of the sediments of Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana, West Africa, have been determined using x-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The sediment samples were collected at different locations in the lake using Ekman dredge. Oriented clay mineral studies using the XRD methods reveal clay mineralogies of smectite, vermiculite, chlorite, illite, kaolinite micas, and their interstratified derivatives, suggesting a warm wet climate with increased chemical weathering by hydrolysis. The presence of greigite at the central deep water part of the lake suggests sulphate reduction under anoxic conditions, which indicate deposition in deep water. This further supports the inference of a wet climate. Quartz, orthoclase, anorthosite, muscovite and illite, which emerged from powder XRD results, point to a probable Birimian Supergroup provenance, and therefore the source for these top sediments.

Keywords: Depositional Environment, Clay Mineralogy, X-Ray Diffraction, Birimian Supergroup.