ABSTRACT

The tar sands are majorly deposited in the Western Nigeria spans a distance of about 120km, the tar deposits occurring as heavy oil and manifest as seepages and at near surface or at the surface as impregnated sediments at road cuts, cliff faces and river banks and at break of slopes. Samples were collected at Agbabu, Ilubinrin and Loda where open mining is at progress. The objective of this study is to determine the physical properties and geochemical data of major oxides and trace metals use the resultant data to determine the source and depositional environment of the organic matter. Also obtained from this research are the porosity, bulk density and average electrical resistivity of the sand bodies which is used to determine the reservoir quality.  ICP-ES technique was employed for the determination of the major oxides and trace elements concentration in the tar sands samples collected at Agbabu, Ondo State. Physical properties such as porosity, bulk density and electrical resistivity were also determined using simple Experimental approach. The results of the porosity ranges from 0.12 – 0.52, bulk density ranges from 1.23 – 1.45 and electrical resistivity ranges from 0.05 – 35.33. Results were also compared with those of previous works who used PIXE-PIGME, ICP-ES and AAS techniques at Agbabu and Imeri areas. The results had been able to confirm that Nigerian tar sands could be rich in silica (SiO2). Sulfur and carbon were present in the tar sand samples collected at Agbabu which also make the tar sands similar with result of previous works at Agbabu, Ondo State and differ with that of Imeri, Ogun State. We recommend further geochemical analysis on the water at the tar sand deposit from the study area.