On the Correlation of Area of Consistently-Low Resistivity at Depths with Slope of the Landform of a 4 km2 Tranche of the Gidan Kwano Campus Development Phase II, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Northcentral Nigeria

Abstract

Even though it is not an infallible rule, slopes of landforms of the areas of studies for geoelectrical surveys at the local Basement Complex geology should correlate strongly with areas of consistently-low resistivities at depths. This is due to the fact that such low-resistivity portions are more often than not pointers to groundwater accumulation. This study is simply a validation of this predominant fact based on detailed field survey. It is observed that the slope of the landform of the wider 8 km2 Phase II Development of which this 4 km2 tranche is a part indicates a resultant north-south east-west tilt; also, comparatively thick overburden materials can be discerned at this slope. Furthermore, the result of interpretation of a two-dimensional vertical electrical sounding data for groundwater prospects over this 4 km2 Phase II Development tranche indicates a generally northeast (NE)-southwest (SW) diagonal trend of the subsurface fault-traces that are oriented toward the slope of the landform and these are the key parameters for groundwater prospects in the first place. Thus, in conformity to the norm, the area of consistently-low resistivity at depths correlates strongly with the slope of the landform of the 4 km2 tranche of the Gidan Kwano Campus Development Phase II.