An episodic mobile belt underlies the zone of geothermal springs in the Benue area of Nigeria. The close resemblance between the transverse gravity profiles for the Benue depression and profiles of the central Red Sea depression may indicate a similar origin for the depression. The Benue depression is an expression of a spreading ridge generated from a RRR triple junction which was active in the Early Cretaceous. Separation in the Benue trough ceased in the Late Cretaceous, and the spreading ridge is now defunct and at least partly obscured. In Neogene time, there was predominance of igneous activity in the Cameroon-Adamawa volcanic zone which has many attributes of an embryonic spreading ridge. Many of the Neogene alkaline volcanics in the Benue depression and on the Jos plateau trend northwest-southeast, roughly perpendicular to both the Benue depression and the Cameroon-Adamawa volcanic zone, and may mark the sites of future transform faults.

It is postulated that the geothermal springs in the Benue area are surface expressions of a convective hydrothermal system associated with an embryonic spreading ridge or hot spot. It is also suggested that extraction of energy from this convective hydrothermal system, either for direct heat application or for conversion to electricity in the Benue area, is feasible.

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