DETERMINATION OF HYDRAULIC PROPERTIES OF AN AQUIFER USING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TECHNIQUES - A CASE OF A PART OF NORTHERN KADUNA METROPOLIS

20 May, 2024,

Abstract > Volume 5, Number 1 (2019) > OMOTAYO KAYODE EBENEZER and OZOANI HUMPHREY CHIEDOZIEdownload full paper

ABSTRACT

The  research is aimed at the determination of the hydraulic characteristics (K and T) of an aquifer, using only the electrical resistivity method, so that when there is no borehole information, these characteristics can still be determined.  Consequently, 11 Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) points and 4 boreholes were investigated.  The boreholes will serve as control or check for the results got from electrical resistivity survey.  First, the Singh 2005 formula was used to calculate the Hydraulic Conductivity of the aquiferous zone for each VES point.  Thereafter, the Transmissivity was calculated using the Singhal and Niwas1981 formula.  Meanwhile, the thickness of the aquifer used for calculating Transmissivity from Hydraulic Conductivity were determined in three different ways: (a) using the thickness, h=Depth to fractureless fresh basement rock minus Depth to water table and (b) using the thickness h of aquiferous zone derived from VES interpretation and (c) using the thickness h of the screened aquiferous zone of the available boreholes.  The Transmissivity values from the three different aquifer thicknesses were now compared to those got from pumping test.  And it was observed that the Transmissivity values got from the thickness of screened aquifer correlate fairly with the Transmissivity values from pumping test.  While the Transmissivity values from the other two methods are relatively high, which may be as a consequence of the fact that the calculations takes into consideration that the porosity and permeability are constant and continuous throughout the length of the aquifer.  And this is rarely so in practice.  Finally, using the VES curves interpretation and the corresponding pseudosections, the high groundwater potential zones in the area have been delineated.

KEY WORDS: Electrical Resistivity Method, Transmissivity, Permeability, Hydraulic Conductivity, Aquifer, Singh, Singhal and Niwas.

download full text