Groundwater Exploration in Aaba Residential Area of Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

Groundwater plays a fundamental role in human life. Despite its indispensable characteristics, it is unfortunate that groundwater is often associated with low yield. The expanding demand for water and the cost involved in drilling boreholes therefore require the application and the proper use of groundwater investigation techniques to locate high yielding aquifers. A geophysical investigation involving an electrical resistivity method using a Schlumberger electrode array was conducted around Aaba residential area, a basement terrain of southwestern Nigeria. Sixteen Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) stations were applied across the study area using a maximum current electrode separation of 100 m. The geoelectrical imaging from this study revealed that the lithologies are divided into topsoil, lateritic soil, Sandy clay/clayey sand/clay/weathered rock and the bedrock. Subsurface geoelectrical maps (overburden thickness, weathered layer isothickness, weathered layer isoresistivity, bedrock relief, bedrock resistivity, and correlations from geoelectric sections) were used to generate information about the groundwater potential of the study area. It was inferred that the eastern (VESs 1, 2, 8, 10, and 11) and the southwestern (VESs 13 and 14) regions are associated with high groundwater yield. Boreholes can be drilled to an average depth of 22.0 m (72.6 ft) on these axes. The groundwater potential of the northern (VES 5), central (VES 9), and southern (VES 12) parts of the study area were inferred to be of medium potential. The borehole drilling along these axes can be extended to the depth of 30.0 m (99.0 ft), with medium groundwater yield. However, the northeastern (VES 3 and VES 4) and the western (VESs 6, 7, 15, and 16) zones are characterized by low groundwater potential. This present study has been able to detect the drillable zones and depths for optimum groundwater yield in a crystalline terrain of Aaba residential area, Akure using VES. The resistivity sounding is efficient in characterization of aquifers for groundwater exploration.

Radiogenic heat production in the Coastal Plain Sands of Ipokia, Dahomey Basin, Nigeria

“…The Basement Complex and Sedimentary rocks are the major rocks that are believed to have covered Nigeria almost in equal proportions. The rocks of Basement Complex are considered to be PreCambrian in age [[7], [8], [9], [10]], while the sediments varied from Upper Cretaceous to Recent in age [6,[11], [12], [13]]. The Basement Complex rocks are composed of igneous and undifferentiated metamorphic rocks, as well as their weathering products (which are popularly known as overburden).…”

Geo-investigation on groundwater control in some parts of Ogun state using data from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and vertical electrical soundings

“…It has been established that civilization and development of any nations (communities inclusive) have flourished due to reliable water supplies and have suffered setback as the water supplies failed (Troften, 1973;Olasehinde, 2010). Water is an inevitable tool for life survival on earth (Chaplin, 2001;Jequier and Constant, 2010;Hanslmeier, 2011;Oladejo et al, 2013;Adagunodo et al, 2018;Adejumo et al, 2018;SDG6, 2018;Westall and Brack, 2018). It occurs in three forms: as rain, surface flow and subsurface flow.…”

Aeromagnetic mapping of fault architecture along Lagos–Ore axis, southwestern Nigeria

“…Ore is one of the major towns in Ondo state, which is constituted by the Pre-Cambrian Basement rocks of SW Nigeria (Figure 3a and b) [35,54], though some parts of the state are constituted by the formations of Dahomey basin. The Basement Complex of SW Nigeria is chiefly composed of metamorphic and crystalline rocks of over 550 million years old [55,56].…”