Science and Education Publishing Journal of Geosciences and Geomatics 2373-6704 3 2 2015 04 13 Lead Reservoirs and Metallization in Nigeria: Example of a Contrasting Geological Terrains 28 36 EN Silas Dada Onema Adojoh University of Liverpool, School of Environmental Sciences, Department of Geography, Earth and Ecological Sciences, Roxby Building, Room 805 B, L69 7ZT, UK Adisa Rahaman Ibrahim Garba JGG2015321 10.12691/jgg-3-2-1 2015 03 29 2015 04 07 2015 04 13 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.