Curie Point Depth, Heat Flow and Geothermal Gradient Determined from Analysis of Aeromagnetic Data over parts of the Lower Benue Trough and Anambra Basin, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper evaluates the aeromagnetic data over parts of the Lower Benue Trough and Anambra Basin of North central and Southeastern Nigeria obtained from the Nigerian geological Survey Agency, Abuja to quantitatively determine the Curie Point Depth, Geothermal gradient, and Heat flow using Oasis montaj software, Fourpot software, and Surfer software. The results revealed that the average Curie point Depth of the Study area is 8.07594 km, the Geothermal gradient obtained has an average value of 73 ^oC/km, areas with low and intermediate geothermal gradient are, Southeast of Obubra, Northeast of Obi, North West of Odolu, and Awgu. The study area has an average heat flow of 170 mW/m² , it is observed from the map that the areas around Igunmale, Abakaliki, Udi, Ejekwe and some area around Nkanu East have high heat flow rate attributed to presence of intrusive rock. Consequently, the study area is characterized by low, intermediate and high magnetic anomalies, the most prominent trend observed is in the ENE -WSW and NE – SW minor trend direction and has high heat reservoir potential which can be harnessed as geothermal energy, there is also a possibility of high temperature and pressure hydrocarbon reservoir potential.