See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/249865271

An integration of aeromagnetic and electrical resistivity methods in dam site

investigation

Article  in  Geophysics · March 1996

DOI: 10.1190/1.1443963

CITATIONS READS
57 479

3 authors:

Adebayo Olaniyi Aina M. O. Olorunfemi

Kwara State University, Nigeria. Obafemi Awolowo University
35 PUBLICATIONS   236 CITATIONS    110 PUBLICATIONS   1,870 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

J. S. Ojo
Federal University of Technology, Akure
21 PUBLICATIONS   529 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Potential Field Methods; Regional Tectonism View project

On the link between human capital, innovation and performance: Evidence from a resource-based economy View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Adebayo Olaniyi Aina on 24 December 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

GEOPHYSICS, VOL. 61, NO. 2 (MARCH-APRIL 1996); P. 349-356, 6 FIGS., 2 TABLES.

An integration of aeromagnetic and electrical resistivity

methods in dam site investigation

‡
Adebayo Aina*, Martins O. Olorunfemi , and John S. Ojo*

(Figure 1) are located within the basement complex area. A

ABSTRACT geophysical investigation of both localities has been carried
out.
Aeromagnetic map and electrical resistivity sounding The objectives of the site investigation are:
data obtained along eight traverses were examined at
two sites across the Katsina-Ala River. The principal
goals of this exercise were to define depths to the 1) measure the thicknesses of the overburden or the depths
bedrock, bedrock relief, geologic structures, define the to the bedrock,
nature of the superficial deposit, and select probable 2) determine the nature of the superficial deposit, and
minor and major axes for hydroelectric power dams. 3) map all bedrock structures such as faults, fractures, rock
The aeromagnetic map shows that the basement rocks contacts, lineaments, joints, and any other lateral inho-
trend roughly northeast-southwest, which correlates mogeneities that may be present in the area.
with the strike of foliation measurements made on rock
outcrops along the river channel. A network of cross The above information is required for the design and
cutting lineaments, suspected to be faults/fractures that construction of the dam axis foundation, for the assessment of
trend approximately northeast/southwest and northwest/ the ease of excavation, and for the delineation of possible
southeast, was also delineated from the magnetic map. seepage zones.
The depths to the bedrock estimated from resistivity To achieve these objectives, our approach was to begin the
depth sounding data at site I generally vary from site investigation program with what Dobecki and Romig
1-53.1 m. Depths to the bedrock estimated at site II (1985) referred to as sensible and cost-effective substitutes for
range from 1.9-19.5 m. The superficial deposit varies boreholes. An aeromagnetic map of the area around the
from clay to sandy clay, to clayey sand (with boulders in proposed axes was interpreted and the results used as a guide
places), and to sand and laterite. The bedrock relief is for a ground dc electrical resistivity survey. Both the aeromag-
relatively flat and gently undulates along most of the netic and electrical resistivity interpretations are presented
traverses, with an overall dip towards the river channel. here.
Traverses E-F or I-J at site I and K-L at site II are
probable dam axes. These traverses are characterized by GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY
relatively thin overburden thicknesses and rock heads
dipping toward the river channel, thereby reducing the
likelihood of water seepages from the flanks of the The area investigated is slightly east of the eastern margin of
proposed dam axes. the Middle Benue Trough. The sites are underlain by the
crystalline basement complex rocks of Nigeria (Figure 1). The
lithological units vary from garnet-bearing granite gneiss be-
INTRODUCTION neath site I to schistose quartzite beneath site II. The strike of
foliation varies from N40°-45°E, while the dip directions range
A dam has been proposed across the Katsina-Ala River in from 40°-50°W in the east (site I) and from 50°-70°E in the
the Katsina-Ala Local Government of Benue State of Nigeria west (site II). The converging dip directions may be indicative
to harness the potential of the river for electrical energy of a folded bedrock in a regional sense. This is consistent with
generation and agricultural purposes. The proposed dam sites the observation that the basement in and around the Benue

Manuscript received by the Editor August 26, 1993; revised manuscript received May 23, 1995.
*Dept. of Physics, University of Lagos, Lagos Nigeria.
‡Dept. of Geology, Obafemi Awolowo University, ILE-IFE, Nigeria.
**Dept. of Applied Geophysics, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
© 1996 Society of Exploration Geophysicists. All rights reserved.

349
350 Aina et al.
Trough may have been warped and folded along with the MATERIALS AND METHOD OF STUDY
sediments in the Benue Basin (Wright, 1981).
The bedrock occurs as low-lying outcrops along the riverbed Aeromagnetics
and occasionally in the upland. The superficial deposits at site
I vary from clay to sandy clay, to clayey sand/sand, to clayey
sand with boulders, and to laterite, which form a rock capping The aeromagnetic map (Figure 2) used for this study was
with significant depth extent in places. Site II is overlain by obtained from an airborne magnetic survey carried out over
sun-baked clay and sandy clay horizons with laterite in places. the lower and upper Benue Valley area for, and on behalf of,
The eastern flank of site I is characterized by both relatively the Geological Survey Department of Nigeria by Fairey Sur-
flat and undulatory terrain. The western flank is relatively flat. veys Limited in 1975. The map represents the southeast
Both sides, however, generally slope toward the Katsina-Ala quadrant of Katsina-Ala sheet 272. The airborne data were
River. The topographic elevation varies from about 116 m a.s.l. acquired at a constant flight height of 152 m above terrain. The
(above sea level) at the river channel to 171 m a.s.l. at the high flight lines were flown in a 150°/330° azimuth at a 2-km interval,
land. while the tie lines were flown in a 60°/240° azimuth at a 20-km
Site II is relatively flat and slopes gently toward the river. spacing.
The topographic elevation varies from about 105 m a.s.l. at the The interpretation of the magnetic map was both qualitative
river channel to 110 m a.s.l. at the upland. Both sides are and quantitative. The qualitative interpretation involved the
drained by the Katsina-Ala River and its tributaries. examination of the map for patterns and characteristics that
The Katsina-Ala River flows in a direction approximately are typical of linear features (lineaments) such as faults and
normal to the general strike of the geology at both sites, which fracture zones, lithological contacts, etc. The quantitative
is an indication that the course of the river is not structurally interpretation of magnetic profiles along and across identified
controlled at these sites. lineaments was done using the Werner deconvolution tech-

FIG. 1. Map of Katsina-Ala showing the proposed dam sites (I and II) and the general geology.
 Aeromagnetic and Resistivity Methods 351

nique (Birch, 1984), modified for this low magnetic latitude by trode spacing) values varying from 1 to 100 m. The array length was
taking the magnetization at the equator to be horizontal and aligned parallel to the geologic strike at each sounding point. This
parallel to the normal terrestrial field, instead of vertical as in alignment will minimize dip-induced distortion of the sounding
the high magnetic latitudes. curves and its attendant interpretation errors.
A total of five traverses-A-B, C-D, E-F (Axis III), G-H,
DC resistivity
and I-J-trending approximately N40°E were established
The electrical resistivity survey used the vertical electrical sounding across the Katsina-Ala at site I (Figure 3a). The traverse
(VES) technique. A Schlumberger array was used with AB/2 (elec- length was 3130 m while the traverse-traverse separation

FIG. 2. Aeromagnetic map of the Katsina-Ala area. Indicated values are in nanotesla.
352 Aina et al.

was 100 m. Depth soundings were carried out at intervals of The best smooth curves taken through the set of data points
200 m. were interpreted quantitatively by a method of partial curve
At site II (Figure 3b), three traverses, K-L, M-N (Axis V), matching and the interpreted layer resistivities and thicknesses
and O-P, trending approximately N20°E were established were refined by a Marquardt-type inversion algorithm that
across the river. The traverse length was 670 m and the iteratively refines the input model in the generalized least-
traverse-traverse separation was 100 m. Depth soundings were squares sense (Verma and Pantulu, 1990).
carried out at 110 m intervals.
The depth sounding data are presented as sounding curves DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
in Figures 4a and b. The sounding curves vary from simple Aeromagnetic map
two-layer models to more complicated five-layer models. Lat-
erites occur as rock-capping and as subsurface hardpan and The total magnetic intensity contour map (Figure 2) shows a
boulder-bearing topsoil in some parts of the surveyed area that relatively strong east-northeast trend running through the
create data point scatter on some of the sounding curves. middle of the study area. Outcrops of granite gneiss observed

FIG. 3. (a) Location map for vertical electric soundings, site I. (b) Location map for vertical electric soundings, site II.

FIG. 4. (a) Typical depth sounding curves obtained from site I. (b) Typical depth sounding curves obtained from site II.
 Aeromagnetic and Resistivity Methods 353

along the river channel and bank confirm this trend. To the is characterized by alternating basement highs and lows,
north, a relatively small area of high-frequency aeromagnetic particularly along traverses A-B and C-D.
anomalies indicate shallow magnetic structures that are prob- The bedrock relief slopes toward the river channel from
ably caused by near-surface extentions of the granite gneiss. both flanks along traverses E-F, G-H, and I-J. Dam axes
Three major east/northeast-northeast trending faults tra- constructed along any of these traverses will not lose reservoir
verse the area. Wright (1981) observed that these systems of water through the banks of the dam axis because groundwater
east-northeast trending faults originated in the underlying will flow toward the river channel. On the contrary, the
basement and probably control some of the folding in the bedrock relief dips away from the river along traverse A-B,
Benue Trough. meaning that any dam axis constructed along this traverse will
As noted previously, these two principal directions are lose reservoir water through the banks (Figure 5e).
commonly observed throughout the Benue Trough and adja- Site II is also underlain by three geologic layers, topsoil, a
cent areas. Chukwu-Ike (1981) observed that the northwest weathered layer, and bedrock (Figure 6a-6c). The topsoil
trending lineament sets that exist here were probably formed thickness is 0.5-1.4 m and has resistivity values varying from
complementary to the northeast trending lineaments but be- 140-1400 ohm-m. The horizon varies in composition from
came a tensional direction during the Santonian folding in the sandy clay to clayey sand and laterite in places. The weathered
trough. The east/northeast faults are cut by fractures in the layer thicknesses and resistivities are 1.4-18.6 m and
joint direction of the rock. In the area around the two 8-144 ohm-m, respectively. This layer is composed of clay and
proposed dam axes (major axis III and minor axis V, Figures 1 sandy clay. The bedrock resistivity values range from
and 3) several faults and fractures have been mapped. Werner 950 ohm-m to infinity. The depth to the bedrock (or rockhead)
deconvolution analysis of magnetic profiles along and across varies from 1.9-19.5 m, with a minimum average depth of
the mapped lineaments (Birch, 1984) shows that some of the 6.4 m along traverse K-L and a maximum of 9.6 m along
faults/fractures may extend to a depth of 2-3 km. This inter- traverses M-N (Axis V) and O-P. Outcrops of the bedrock
pretation is supported by the view that these systems of faults were seen within the river channel along traverse K-L. Table 2
are of basement origin (Wright, 1981) and are magnetic shows the variations in the depth to the bedrock along the
because concentrated paramagnetic minerals associated with traverses.
groundwater flow within the fault zone (Dobecki and Romig, The bedrock topography is relatively flat along traverse K-L
1985; McIntyre, 1980). but slopes toward the river channel along traverses M-N and
All the faults and fractures delineated in the aeromagnetic O-P. This bedrock disposition will prevent loss of water
interpretation are well defined by the Werner deconvolution through the banks of the proposed dam axis.
solutions.
CONCLUSIONS
Geoelectric sections
Qualitative interpretation of the aeromagnetic map of the
The series of 1-D VES interpretation results are assembled Katsina-Ala River area has delineated a network of linea-
into geoelectric sections in Figures 5 and 6. Site I is character- ments, suspected to be faults, and fracture zones whose trends
ized by up to five geoelectric layers, which can be classified into are generally northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast.
three geologic layers (Figure 5a-5e). These include the topsoil, Quantitative interpretation of selected magnetic profiles con-
the weathered (decomposed) layer, and the crystalline bed- firmed some of these lineaments and suggested that some of
rock. The three layers were identified along the five traverses the features are deep seated.
with the exception of the very few locations where the topsoil Some of the inferred linear structures are located within,
grades into the bedrock, or where the weathered layer is too and at the outskirt of, the proposed dam sites. Except for
thin to be delineated. localized basement depressions observed beneath VES 3 along
The topsoil varies in thickness from 0.6-4.4 m with layer traverse A-B and beneath VES 22 along traverse G-H (both of
resistivities of between 80 and 10 000 ohm-m. The composition which could not be correlated across all the traverses) none of
of this layer varies from clay to sandy clay, to clayey sand, to the inferred linear features within the confines of the two sites
boulder bearing clayey sand, to sand and laterite. The weath- were resolved by the geoelectric measurements. This lack of
ered layer thicknesses and resistivities are 1.3-52.1 m and detection may occur because the linear features have insignif-
18-1120 ohm-m, respectively. The horizon varies in composi- icant vertical displacement or are mere geomorphic expres-
tion from clay to sandy clay and clayey sand, which is lateritic sions of the crystalline basement.
in places. The bedrock model resistivity values vary from The estimated depths to the bedrock from VES data vary
2340 ohm-m to infinity. The depth to the bedrock (or rock between 1-53.1 m at site I and between 1.9-19.5 m at site II.
head) varies from 1.0-53.1 m with a minimum average of 7.6 m The bedrock relief varies from relatively flat to gently undu-
along traverse I-J and a maximum of 13.4 m along traverse lating with an overall dip toward the river channel from both
A-B. The overburden thickness is generally thin (1-12 m) on flanks of most of the traverses (E-F, G-H, I-J, K-L, M-N, and
the southwestern (or left) flank but thicker (1.5-52.1 m) on the O-P). The groundwater flow direction is toward the river
northeastern (or right) flank of the traverses. The bedrock channel with little risk of loss of reservoir water through the
outcrops along the river channel. Table 1 shows the variations flanks of a dam axis constructed along any of the above
in the depth to the bedrock along the traverses. traverses.
The bedrock relief is relatively flat on the left flank but rises Except for the relatively deep depths to the bedrock along
with the surface topography on the right flank. The right flank the traverses, traverses E-F or I-J at site I and traverse K-L at
354 Aina et al.

FIG. 5. Geoelectric sections along traverses (a) I-J, (b) G-H, (c) E-F, (d) C-D, and (e) A-B at site I.
 Aeromagnetic and Resistivity Methods 355

FIG. 6. Geoelectric sections along traverses (a) O-P, (b) M-N, and (c) K-L at site II.
356 Aina et al.

Table 1. Depth to bedrock (overburden thickness) determined along Traverses A-B, C-D, E-F (axis III), G-H, and I-J (site I).

Traverse E-F
Traverse A-B Traverse C-D (Axis III) Traverse G-H Traverse I-J
Depth to Depth to Depth to Depth to Depth to
V.E.S. bedrock V.E.S. bedrock V.E.S. bedrock V.E.S. bedrock V.E.S. bedrock
Stations (m) Stations (m) Stations (m) Stations (m) Stations (m)
36 12.0 45 2.3 46 9.5 55 3.7 56 6.9
37 8.2 44 6.8 47 4.4 54 8.4 57 5.7
38 9.6 43 1.0 48 6.2 53 2.9 58 7.4
39 5.5 42 12.5 49 10.0 52 5.2 59 5.4
40 3.9 41 12.0 50 2.1 51 7.9 60 3.9
* 2.0 * 3.0
River Channel
* 1.5
7 5.2 8 6.0 21 8.0 22 35.5 35 5.0
6 6.5 9 7.5 20 3.3 23 5.8 34 9.2
5 22.6 10 6.0 19 10.8 24 12.4 33 13.6
4 11.5 11 14.3 18 3.8 25 13.9 32 8.2
3 53.1 12 9.0 17 10.5 26 8.8 31 12.0
2 7.6 13 25.0 16 15.0 27 1.6 30 15.5
1 27.0 14 28.5 15 20.9 28 8.5 29 4.2
Mean 13.4 10.9 9.0 9.6 7.6
depth
*Depth to bedrock observation at bank of river channel.

Table 2. Depth to bedrock (overburden thickness) determined along Traverses K-L, M-N (axis V),
and O-P (site II).

Traverse K-L Traverse M-N (axis V) Traverse O-P

Depth to Depth to Depth to
V.E.S. bedrock V.E.S. bedrock V.E.S. bedrock
Stations (m) Stations (m) Stations (m)
65 7.7 64 4.7 61 12.7
66 2.9 63 9.8 62 11.5
* 3.0
River Channel
68 9.3 69 19.5 72 12.4
67 8.9 70 4.5 71 1.9
Mean 6.4 9.6 9.6
depth
*Depth to bedrock observation at bank of river channel.

site II are the preferable axes for a major and minor dam, the development of geosciences in Nigeria. We also thank
respectively. Phil Wannamaker and other reviewers whose suggestions have
In dam site investigation, the aeromagnetic method can be been useful in improving the clarity of the paper.
effective for delineating linear structural features such as faults,
REFERENCES
fracture zones, joint systems, and lithological boundaries;
whereas, the electrical resistivity method, which involves vertical
Birch, F. S., 1984, Bedrock depth estimates from ground magnetom-
electrical sounding, provides information on overburden thick- eter profiles: Groundwater, 22, 427-432.
nesses, the geometry of the subsurface layers, and the structural Chukwu-Ike, I. M., 1981, Marginal fracture systems of the Benue
geometry of the bedrock. In a geological setting such as that Trough in Nigeria and their tectonic implications: Earth Evol. Sci.,
1, 104-109.
described here, integrating aeromagnetic and electrical resistivity Dobecki, T. L., and Romig, P. R., 1985, Geotechnical and groundwater
methods leads to improved interpretation at minimum cost. geophysics: Geophysics, 50, 2621-2636.
McIntyre, J. I., 1980, Geological significance of magnetic patterns
related to magnetite in sediments and metasediments-A review:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Expl. Geophys., 11, 19-33.
Verma, S. K., and Pantulu, K. P., 1990, Software for the interpretation
We are grateful to Texaco Nigeria and Dr. Peter Morse for of resistivity sounding data for groundwater exploration: National
Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India.
support. Our special thanks to Mr. Tako Koning, Assistant Wright, J. B., 1981, Review of the origin and evolution of the Benue
Managing Director, Texaco Nigeria for his encouragement for Trough in Nigeria: Earth Evol. Sci., 1, 98-103.

View publication stats