Groundwater exploration in crystalline basement complex using seismic
refraction and electrical resistivity tomography: case study of Olomore,
Abeokuta, southwestern Nigeria
Abstract
Groundwater occurrence in crystalline basement complex is mainly due to
the development of secondary porosity and permeability arising from the
weathering and fracturing of the low porosity igneous and metamorphic
basement rocks. In this study, geophysical survey involving seismic
refraction and 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) was conducted
to assess the hydrogeological characteristics of the weathering profile
of the crystalline basement rocks in Olomore, Abeokuta, southwestern
Nigeria. The 2D ERT survey was conducted along five Traverses using
dipole-dipole array with a minimum electrode spacing of 5.0 m in
Traverses 1, 2, 3 and 5, and 10.0 m in Traverse 4, and a dipole
separation factor of 1 – 4 in all the traverses; the observed apparent
resistivity data were inverted using RES2DINV. The seismic refraction
survey was conducted along the same traverses using 10 Hz
electromagnetic geophones; the refraction data were processed using
SeisImager with the first arrival travel times picked using Pickwin
module and inverted using Plotrefa to obtain velocity model of the
subsurface. A good correlation exists between the 2D ERT images and the
seismic refraction velocity models. The effective depth of investigation
for both ERT and seismic refraction is approximately 43.0 m in all the
traverses except for ERT of Traverse 4 which 66.0 m depth of
investigation. Four lithologic layers may be inferred with varying model
resistivity and P-wave velocity range of 546-974 m/s, 1456-1877 m/s,
2042-2944 m/s, and 3041-6894 m/s respectively. Both ERT and seismic
refraction images indicate that the regolith (collapsed zone and
saprolite) is relatively thin (< 10.0 m) and may be unable to
support adequate drawdown for good yield. But the weathered and
fractured basement is sufficiently thick to support adequate drawdown
for high groundwater storativity and yield; depth-to-bedrock is greater
than 20.0 m in most part of the study area. The study shows that the
combination of ERT and seismic refraction is effective for near-surface
characterisation for hydrogeological investigations in crystalline
basement complex.