Terrain And Laboratory Conductivity Studies Of Flood Plains Of Oluwatuyi/Oshinle Areas Of Akure

Abstract

A shallow electromagnetic study (electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements) and laboratory conductivity sampling of the flood plains of Oluwatuyi/Oshinle area of Akure have been undertaken. This is with the aim of correlating the terrain conductivity mapping with laboratory measurements to establish the effectiveness of the induced secondary currents in determining the effects of infiltrating leachates occasioned by heaps of refuse dumped in the course of River Elegbin in the study area. Quadrature and in-phase measurements in vertical and horizontal dipole modes were undertaken on seventeen traverses of various lengths. Laboratory conductivity measurements were conducted on twenty one water samples obtained from hand-dug wells.
The horizontal dipole measurements exhibit higher conductivity values suggesting contamination of the upper strata from the ubiquitous refuse in the area. The lower conductivity values obtained from the vertical dipole mode may be due to the high retarding capability of abundant clay in the area to contaminant flow. The similarity in conductivity distribution obtained from field and laboratory studies show that terrain conductivity is strongly influenced by saturating fluid.
The high magnetic susceptibility values obtained in northern course of the river suggests predominantly ferromagnetic dumps while the low values characterizing the central and southern course indicate predominantly domestic waste in the zone.