GEOPHYSICAL EVALUATION OF SUBSURFACE PROTECTIVE CAPACITY AND GROUNDWATER PROSPECT IN A TYPICAL SEDIMENTARY ZONE, EASTERN DAHOMEY BASIN USING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TECHNIQUE

Subsurface protective capacity evaluation is important in groundwater prospecting. With the aid of Dar-Zarrouk parameters which show direct relationship with contaminants infiltration time and transmissivity, joint interpretation of vertical electrical sounding (VES) and 2-D resistivity imaging were employed to evaluate overburden protective capacity and groundwater potentials at Mowe in Obafemi-Owode LGA, southwest Nigeria. Total longitudinal conductance S, total transverse resistance T, longitudinal resistivity ρL and transverse resistivity ρT were computed. Sand/clayey sand was delineated at 70% of the area either as confined aquifers (78%) or unconfined aquifers (22%). S values in 87% of locations has moderate protective rating (0.2071 – 0.5630), one location has good protective rating (0.7736), others have weak protective ratings (0.1053 – 0.1814). The entire area is characterized by low overburden thickness H (7.9 – 25.6 m), which agrees with a correlation coefficient of 0.58 between S and H. T values is in the range 235 – 2046 Ωm2 with high values indicating high transmissivity zones, suggesting high probability of pollutant contamination of aquifer, also agreeing with moderate correlation coefficient of 0.69 between T and H. The study area was grouped into three regions on the cross plot of T versus S: low S and high T – poor protection and high contaminant transmission; moderate/good S and low T – good protection with low contaminants transmission; moderate/low S and low T – weak protective capacity and poor transmissivity. Excellent correlation (0.99) exists between ρL and ρT, with ρT slightly higher than ρL, and low ρL signifying the presence of conductive clayey materials in the overburden.