Assessment of Aquifer parameters in Imburu area, Northeast Nigeria, using the Vertical Electrical Sounding, GIS, and Remote Sensing techniques

Groundwater is gradually becoming the most feasible alternative to the expensive conventional surface water system in Nigeria, both for drinking and agricultural purposes. The focus of the present study was to evaluate aquifer parameters with a view to delineate the groundwater potential in Imburu, a farming area in Northeastern Nigeria, using vertical electrical sounding (VES), geographic information system (GIS), and remote sensing (RS) techniques. The three techniques were combined to have delineated groundwater potential, estimated aquifer transmissivity, and hydraulic conductivity using the aquifer’s resistivities and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) acquired from Landsat 7 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery, and the concept of Dar Zarrouk (D.Z.) parameters. A total twenty-seven (27) vertical electrical sounding (VES) measurements were conducted across the study area with at least a 100 m distance from one VES point to another, using the Schlumberger electrode configuration, with current electrode spacing (AB/2) ranging from 2 m to about 200 m in each VES point. The summary of the results revealed that the area is characterizes by mostly five-layer lithology of AKH and KQQ. Quantitative interpretation of the third layer suggested that it is the aquifer layer with resistivity variation ranging from about 56.3 Ωm to about 221.6 Ωm, and with thickness varying from about 14 m to about 30.8 m. The groundwater potential in the study is generally good, though with weak aquifer protective capacity that suggested the vulnerability of the aquifer to infiltration from contaminants.