A report on Igayaza-Isingiro geological mapping project to South western Uganda.

Abstract

The Igayaza mapping project is carried out by second year undergraduate students of Geology and petroleum geoscience and production at the department of geology and petroleum studies at Makerere University. The project is aimed at giving the students hands on training in geological mapping techniques, data collection and analysis, presentation of the geological data and report writing. The study area is Gayaza in Isingiro district in Western Uganda. This area is part of the karagwe-Ankolean system of rocks which is the name given to the rocks of the Kibaran belt in Uganda. The area is divided into areas with each area assigned to a group of students. The mapped area which is fully discussed in this report is area H. The area was traversed while making observations of rock units, mineralogy and structures at the same time taking measurements on attitudes of the different geological structures. Samples were also taken and thin sections created. The thin sections were analyzed in the laboratory under petrographic microscopes. The measurements taken were analyzed using stereonet software to interpret the orientation of the different geological features. A base map of area H was also produced in the field and this was digitized using Arch GIS software to produce the geological map of the area. The field observations identified grey shales, ferruginous shales and quartzites as the rock units in area H. The rocks also contain quartz and iron oxide veins. The major minerals include quartz, feldspars, clay minerals and biotite. The major structures include joints, folds, bedding, load casts, and faults. The folds are both regional and cross folds. A new theory is also proposed for the events that formed the two fold trends.