Zuma rock
| Zuma rock | ||
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.jpg) Zuma Rock seen from the southwest |
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| height | 700 m | |
| location | Niger , Nigeria | |
| Coordinates | 9 ° 7 '49 " N , 7 ° 14' 2" E | |
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| Type | Inselberg | |
| rock | Granitoid | |
| Age of the rock | Neoproterozoic | |
| particularities | Landmarks of Nigeria | |
.jpg) View from the east |
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Zuma Rock is a free-standing, " monolithic " rock formation of Plutonic origin near Abuja in Nigeria , which rises steeply about 300 meters above the surrounding area.
Position and shape
Zuma Rock is on the border of Niger State and the Federal Capital Territory . It is located around 30 kilometers west of the Nigerian capital Abuja , around 10 kilometers southeast of the city of Suleja on the expressway to Kaduna (A2). Zuma Rock is considered to be the geographical center of Nigeria and is also known as the “entrance gate of Abuja”. Despite its distance from Abuja, Zuma Rock, next to Aso Rock, is a landmark and a tourist attraction of the capital and all of Nigeria. It is depicted on the back of the 100 naira banknote.
Zuma Rock reaches a height of more than 700 m and has a circumference of about 2.5 kilometers. Its base is at an altitude of about 400 meters above sea level. Its ground plan resembles an elongated triangle, the tip of which points to the northwest. The high bare rock walls have vertical channels all around, which were cut in by the rainwater pouring down.
geology
Zuma Rock represents a geologically ancient plutonic intrusive body , which was carved out of a tropical hull surface as a result of weathering and erosion . It is therefore an island mountain . With its high walls, Zuma Rock offers one of the most impressive examples of the island mountains in the north-western part of Nigeria.
Geologically, the intrusive body of Zuma Rock lies in the so-called Benin-Nigerian shield between the West Africa craton and the Congo craton . It is part of a whole series of approximately equally old plutons that penetrate the gneiss and crystalline slate of the part of the so-called Trans-Saharan Orogenic Belt ("Trans- Saharan Orogenic Belt ") that bites in the Benin-Nigerian shield . These late and post-orogenic plutons, dated to a “ pan-African ” ( i.e. neoproterozoic ) age, are also grouped under the name Older Granites (“Older Granites”) in order to distinguish them from the anorogenic Mesozoic ( Karoo / Etendeka phase), which are important for mining. Granites ( Younger Granites ) to delineate in the region.
The rock of the 'Older Granites' is generally described petrographically as granitoid , although this term is used here in a broader sense and not only granites and granodiorites , but also (partly tonalitic ) diorites and (partly " adamellitic ", i.e. relatively plagioclase- rich, ' Monzonite ') syenites . Zuma Rock itself is said to consist of granodiorite as well as gabbro . A dark brown, relatively coarse-grained but nevertheless very cohesive ("very plastic") soil emerges from its rock .
Myths
The Zuma Rock is believed to have magical abilities by the local population. The ancestral forces inherent in the rock are said to have caused the half-finished construction of a five-star hotel in its vicinity to be abandoned.
Web links
- Myths and legends surrounding Nigeria's Zuma Rock. theculturetrip.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Anthony E. Annor, Arno Mücke: Inselberge: Origin and distribution - illustrated using the example of Nigeria. In: The opening. Volume 47, No. 1, 1996, pp. 2-12 ( ResearchGate ).
- ↑ a b J. B. Wright, DA Hastings, WB Jones, H R. Williams: Geology and Mineral Resources of West Africa. George Allen & Unwin, London 1985, ISBN 0-04-556001-3 , pp. 6, 59 ff. ( Especially p. 62)
- ↑ a b Imoukhuede M. Idehai, Ayibawari O. EGAI, Michael E. Okiotor: Evaluation of the Geotechnical Properties of Residual Soils in Two Different Basement Complex Areas of Nigeria. In: British Journal of Applied Science & Technology. Vol. 4, No. 36, 2014, pp. 5000–5013, doi: 10.9734 / BJAST / 2014/12679
- ↑ Zuma Rock: Myths, Mysteries And Realities. Daily Nigeria News, July 22, 2016 (archive version)