eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Geosciences and Geomatics 2373-6704 2015-04-13 3 2 28 36 10.12691/jgg-3-2-1 JGG2015321 article Silas Dada 1 Onema Adojoh onema.adojoh@liverpool.ac.uk 2 Adisa Rahaman 3 Ibrahim Garba 4 Kwara State University, Department of Geology, Malete, P.M.B 1530 Ilorin, Nigeria University of Liverpool, School of Environmental Sciences, Department of Geography, Earth and Ecological Sciences, Roxby Building, Room 805 B, L69 7ZT, UK Obafemi Awolowo University, Department of Geology, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Kano State University of Science and Technology, Department of Geology, P.M.B 3244, Wudil, Nigeria Whole rock and mineral extracts from Nigerian goldfields of late Proterozoic age are significantly more radiogenic than those from the much younger Mesozoic lead-zinc mineralization in the Benue Trough, their common formation by hydrothermal processes notwithstanding. Their marked contrasts in lead isotope compositions can be attributed to differences in source reservoirs, structural settings and geological history rather than their age of mineralization. The Mesozoic sulphides have a remarkable uniformly unradiogenic composition for their age, placing the deposits in the lower crustal geotectonic environment that indicate a source of much lower µ. In contrast, mineral extracts from the southwestern and northwestern Nigeria gold deposits show increasingly radiogenic composition and plot in the mixed and upper crustal geotectonic fields respectively, typical of sources enriched in U/Pb and Th/Pb ratios, with clear indication of larger upper crustal reservoir of much higher µ. Therefore, exploration efforts may need to emphasize near-source mineralization prospects of low radiogenic Pb composition for economic deposits. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jgg/3/2/1/jgg-3-2-1.pdf lead reservoirs metallization U/Pb and Th/Pb ratios Benue trough economic deposits