Delineation of groundwater potential zones of Minna and its environs, North CentralNigeria: an integrated GIS and remote sensing approach

Abstract

Due to the discontinuous nature of groundwater occurrences in the basement complex terrains and Nigeria in general, groundwater development without the necessary pre-drilling hydrogeological investigations may result in low success potential groundwater delineation. Thus, there is the need for adequate characterization of aquifers and delineation of groundwater potential zones in suchbasement setting. This research employed the integration of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) techniques to delineate groundwater potential zones of Minna, North central-Nigeria. The study approach involved integration of nine different thematic layers (geology, rainfall, geomorphology, soil, lineament density, landuse, water proximity, drainage density and slope) based on weights assignment and normalization.The thematic maps were then integrated using ArcGIS 10.5 software to generate the overall groundwater potential map for the study area. The research revealed three groundwater potential zones (GPZ) as indicated on the final map, namely low, moderate and high zones. Areas with low PGZ covered about 747.64 km2 (45.69%), Moderate GPZ covered about 885.78km2 (54.13%) while areas with high GPZ covered about 2.83 km2 (0.17%).The research highlights the efficacy and useful of modern approach for proper groundwater resources evaluation; providing quick prospective guides for groundwater exploration and exploitation in a basement complex.