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The aim of this study was to investigate groundwater potential and aquifer protective capacity of
an area behind the College of Science, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun-Warri
area of Delta State, Nigeria. The data was acquired using ABEM SAS 4000 Terrameter and
processed using IPI2win and Interpex software. Five Vertical Electrical Soundings were carried
out with maximum current electrode separation (AB) of 120 m. The VES curves generated from
the data revealed HKH curve type for VES 1 and VES 2, KQH curve for VES 3 and KH curve for
VES 4 and 5. Five resistivity layers were identified for VES 1 - 3 while four resistivity layers were
identified for VES 4 5. Analysis and interpretation of VES data obtained from the study area
showed VES 3, VES 4 and VES 5 to be most appropriate locations to be explored for borehole
development due to low resistivity of the weathered/fractured aquiferous layers coupled with the
relatively high thicknesses of the weathered layers. However, all the aquifers in the VES locations
are poorly protected due to the very low aquifer protective capacity parameters in the VES
locations.
INTRODUCTION
Aquifer protection is essential for a sustainable use of the effective approach for aquifer evaluation and groundwater
groundwater resources, protection of the dependent quality assessment using empirical relations between
ecosystems, and a central part of spatial planning and hydraulic and geoelectric parameters (Ehirim and
action plans Egbai et al., 2015). The key expression for a Nwakwo, 2010).
quantification of aquifer protection is vulnerability. Aquifer
vulnerability solely indicates whether the physical and Poor quality water and inadequate water supply have
biochemical characteristics of the subsurface prevent or accounted for a number of preventable diseases in many
favour the transport of pollutants in and into aquifers. It communities across the world. These factors have also
does not take into account the actual pollutant loading in affected agriculture in terms of the types of crops grown
an area. and yield as well as animals (Anomohanran, 2014).
According to Anomohanran (2013), pollution has
Transmissivity is a major property of an aquifer and aids in continued to make good quality water unavailable for use
the characterization of rocks as water conducting despite the fact that nature has endowed the world with so
media/strata. The ability of the overburden to retard and much water.
filter percolating fluid is a measure of its protective
capacity. Estimating these properties from pumping tests Groundwater is contributing significantly in the
can be very expensive and time consuming. Surface development of agricultural economy and domestic water
geoelectrical methods offer an alternative, rapid and cost- usage. Groundwater is the water that fills all pores and
Investigation of Groundwater Potential and Aquifer Protective Capacity of Part of Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria
Bello R. 142
openings within the zone of saturation. Exploration for al., 2009; Anomohanran, 2013; Anomohanran, 2014). VES
groundwater in sedimentary environments involves method with Schlumberger array assumes considerable
locating formations that possess appropriate porosity and importance in the field of groundwater exploration because
permeability. While the location of permeable clean sands of its ease of operation, low cost and its capability to
that are capable of yielding useful quantities of water to distinguish between saturated and unsaturated layers.
wells is important, the quality of water yielded is also This method is regularly used to solve a wide variety of
crucial (Aweto, 2014). groundwater problems such as determination of depth,
thickness and boundary of aquifer, determination of zones
The Niger Delta is endowed with rich groundwater with high yield potential in an aquifer, determination of the
resources in several aquifers, but unfortunately, the public boundary between saline and fresh water zones and
water supply by State Water Agency is inadequate and estimation of aquifer transmissivity (Hadi, 2009).
unable to satisfy the demanded quantities (Akpoborie et
al., 2000) and consumers must make alternative Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the aquifer
arrangements. These arrangements in most cases consist systems in order to provide information about the
of hand dug wells or relatively cheaper shallow boreholes subsurface layers of the area using geophysical tools and
that are constructed with the aid of augers operated also to determine the aquifer protective capacity of the
manually. These boreholes are usually slightly deeper study area.
than the dug wells but also exploit the shallow aquifers that
are the most susceptible to contamination from various Study Area
sources.
This work was carried out behind the College of Science,
According to Tijani et al., (2002), one of the commonest Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun,
ways of waste disposal in the Niger Delta is by open Nigeria. Table 1 shows the location of the study area. The
dumping. The primary environmental consequence of area lies within Longitude 050 50 31.4 050 50 31.5 E
these indiscriminate dumping of waste in open dump is the and Latitude 050 34 14.0 050 34 14.5 N. The average
generation of leachates due to decomposition of the waste elevation in these areas is about 9 m above sea level.
materials. The leachates are subsequently released into Figures 1 and 2 show the contour map and surface map
the groundwater by infiltration and this poses serious respectively of the study area. The area is slightly flat as
environmental problems including health hazard. the area was sand filled. Figure 3 shows the geological
map of the study area.
Surface geophysical survey as a veritable tool in
groundwater exploration, has the basic advantage of Table 1: Latitude, Longitude and Elevation of the Study area
saving cost in borehole construction by locating target
aquifer before drilling is embarked upon (Obiora and Latitude Longitude Elevation (m)
Ownuka, 2005). The vertical electrical sounding (VES) VES 1 050 34 13.6 N 0050 50 31.3 E 9.5
survey used in this work has been used extensively for VES 2 050 34 14.0 N 0050 50 31.4 E 9.0
VES 3 050 34 14.0 N 0050 50 31.4 E 9.0
location of the aquifer and determining their hydraulic
VES 4 050 34 14.2 N 0050 50 31.5 E 9.0
parameters because the instrument is simple and analysis
VES 5 050 34 14.3 N 0050 50 31.4 E 9.5
of the data is easy and less tedious than other methods
(Lashkaripour et al., 2005; Batayaneh, 2007; Sikandar et
5.66
5.64
5.62 9.65
9.6
5.6
9.55
Latitude
5.58 9.5
9.45
5.56
9.4
5.54 9.35
9.3
5.52 9.25
9.2
5.5
5.48
5.76 5.78 5.8 5.82 5.84 5.86 5.88 5.9 5.92 5.94
Longitude
Figure 1: Contour Map of the Study Area Figure 2: Surface Map of the Study Area
Investigation of Groundwater Potential and Aquifer Protective Capacity of Part of Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria
Int. J. Geol. Min. 143
Figure 3: Geologic map of the western Niger Delta showing location of Effurun-Warri
Metropolis (Akpoborie et al., 2015)
1 10 100
A B /2 (m )
The concept of Dar Zarrouk parameters was first proposed Figure 6: VES Curve for Traverse 2
by Maillet (1947). This postulation holds from the fact that,
when the thickness and resistivity of a lithologic 4
T rav erse 3
subsurface layer is known, its transverse resistance (R) 10
The analyses of the VES survey data were made using the
computer software IP12win and Interpex. The summary of 100
4 shows the longitudinal conductance and the transverse Figure 7: VES Curve for Traverse 3
resistance of the aquifer, while the aquifer protective
capacity as modified by Olusegun et al., (2016) are 4
T rav erse 4
10
presented in table 5. The iterative curves generated for the
apparent resistivity data using IPI2win and interpex
software are presented in figures 5 9 for the VES carried
out in this study. The geo-electric section for the study area
is presented in figure 10.
Apparent Resistivity (Ohm-m)
T rav erse 1
U nregistered V ersion
4
10 0 .1
1000
Apparent Resistivity (Ohm-m)
Depth (m)
1 1 10 100
A B /2 (m )
10 0 0 10
4 5
1 10 100 10 10
100 1000
A B /2 (m )
R esistiv ity ( O hm - m )
Investigation of Groundwater Potential and Aquifer Protective Capacity of Part of Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria
Bello R. 146
T rav erse 5
U nregistered V ersion
4
10 0 .1
1
Apparent Resistivity (Ohm-m)
Depth (m)
1000
10
100 100
4 5 6
1 10 100 100 1000 10 10 10
A B /2 (m )
R esistiv i ty ( O hm - m )
Figure 9: VES Curve for Traverse 5 Figure 10: Geoelectric Section for the Five VES
5.95
5.9
5.85
5.8
5.75
5.7
Latitude
5.65
5.6
5.55
5.5
5.45
5.4
5.35
5.3
5.35 5.4 5.45 5.5 5.55 5.6 5.65 5.7 5.75 5.8 5.85 5.9 5.95 6
Longitude
Investigation of Groundwater Potential and Aquifer Protective Capacity of Part of Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria
Int. J. Geol. Min. 147
0.03
0.028
0.026
0.024
0.022
0.02
0.018
0.016
0.014
0.012
0.01
5.06m. This layer is interpreted to be coarse sand and the sand and the layer constitute the aquifer. The fourth layer
layer constitute the aquifer. Underlain the fourth layer is has resistivity value of 44064.0 m with an infinite
the fifth layer having resistivity of 36214.0 m with an thickness. This layer is interpreted to contain fine-medium
infinite thickness. This layer is interpreted to contain fine- sand.
medium sand.
The aquifer protective capacity was determined using the
Figure 6 shows that VES 2 is typically HKH curve. The parameters longitudinal conductance and transverse
curve also revealed five resistivity layers for VES 2. The resistance presented in table 5. The parameters were
first layer which is the top soil has resistivity of 3023.2 m calculated using equations 2 and 3. Using the results
with a thickness of 0.62 m. The second layer has resistivity obtained from the study area presented in table 3,
of 371.5 m with a thickness of 0.62 m. This layer is estimation of the aquifer longitudinal conductance and
interpreted to be sandy clay. The third layer has a transverse resistance were made and presented in table
resistivity of 3964.3 m with a thickness of 3.01 m. This 4. The contour map of the aquifer protective capacity is
layer is interpreted to contain fine-medium sand. Underlain shown in figure 11 while figure 12 shows the surface map
this layer is the fourth layer with a resistivity of 220.45 m of the aquifer protective capacity for the study area. The
with a thickness of 8.06 m. This layer is interpreted to be result shows that all the aquifers in VES 1, VES 2, VES 3,
sand and the layer constitute the aquifer. The fifth layer VES 4 and VES 5 show evidence of poor aquifer protective
has a resistivity value of 69143.0 m with a infinite capacity having longitudinal conductance values ranging
thickness. This layer is interpreted to contain fine-medium from 0.0065 to 0.037 and transverse resistance values
sand. ranging from 1,777.27 to 12,563.71. The aquifer in this
area may be prone to contamination resulting from short
Figure 7 shows that VES 3 is typically KQH curve. The residence time in the coarse sand layers. The thicknesses
curve also revealed five resistivity layers for VES 3. The of the overlain layers for the aquifers are not enough to
first layer which is the top soil has resistivity value of protect the aquifers from percolating fluids. The
3192.3 m with a thickness of 1.05 m. This layer is thicknesses of the overlain layers range from 2.5 m to
underlain by the second layer having resistivity value of maximum of 4.25 m except in VES 3 where the thickness
5967.3 m with a thickness of 1.49 m. This layer is is up to 10.71 m. Usually, groundwater is given protection
interpreted to be fine-medium sand. The third layer has a by geologic barriers having sufficient thickness and also
resistivity value of 811.4 m with a thickness of 8.12 m. called protective layers and low hydraulic conductivity.
This layer is interpreted to be clayed sand. The fourth layer Silts and clays are suitable protective layers and when they
has a resistivity value of 625.1 m with a thickness of are found as thick layers above aquifer, they constitute a
15.41 m. This layer is interpreted to be coarse sand and protective cover (Olusegun et al., 2016). However, this is
the layer constitute the aquifer. The fifth layer has a not the case for this study.
resistivity value of 3931.0 m with an infinite thickness.
This layer is interpreted to contain fine-medium sand.
CONCLUSION
VES4 exhibit typical KH curve as shown in figure 8. The
curve revealed four resistivity layers. The first layer which This study investigated the groundwater potential and
is the top soil has resistivity value of 1457.8 m with a aquifer protective capacity of an area behind the College
thickness of 0.21 m. This layer is underlain by the second of Science, Federal University of Petroleum Resources,
layer with resistivity value of 2348.2 m with a thickness of Effurun, Nigeria. Five VES using the Schlumberger array
3.81 m. This layer is interpreted to be fine-medium sand. configuration were acquired in the study area. Analysis
The third layer has resistivity value of 720.1 m with a and interpretation of VES data obtained from the study
thickness of 14.96 m. This layer is interpreted to be coarse area showed VES 3, VES 4 and VES 5 to be most
sand and the layer constitute the aquifer. The fourth layer appropriate locations to be explored for borehole
has resistivity value of 3219.7 m with an infinite development due to low resistivity of the porous and
thickness. This layer is interpreted to contain fine-medium permeable sand in the aquiferous layers coupled with the
sand. relatively high thicknesses of the sandy layers. However,
all the aquifers in the VES locations are poorly protected
Figure 9 shows that VES 5 exhibit typical KH curve. The due to the very low aquifer protective capacity parameters
curve revealed four resistivity layers. The first layer which in the VES locations.
is the top soil has resistivity value of 2260.3 m with a
thickness of 0.19 m. The layer is underlain by the second It is therefore recommended that for future groundwater
layer with resistivity value of 2676.9 m with a thickness development in the study area, measures should be taken
of 3.52 m. This layer is interpreted to be fine-medium sand. to ensure treatment of groundwater that may be explored
The third layer has a resistivity value of 666.5 m with a from the area to make it fit for domestic use.
thickness of 18.85 m. This layer is interpreted to be coarse
Investigation of Groundwater Potential and Aquifer Protective Capacity of Part of Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria
Int. J. Geol. Min. 149
Investigation of Groundwater Potential and Aquifer Protective Capacity of Part of Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria
Bello R. 150
Investigation of Groundwater Potential and Aquifer Protective Capacity of Part of Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria