Application of geo-electrical imaging to determine signatures of buried waste

Abstract

Electrical resistivity and induce polarization data were collected to generate 2D subsurface resistivity and chargeability models to delineate signatures of buried waste which includes domestic waste, oil sludge and metal scraps at Kurmin Mashi Kaduna metropolis, North Western, Nigeria. Four profiles (A, B, C & D) each of length 100m with a separation of 10 m were investigated with the help of ABEM SAS1000 Terrameter using the Wenner-alpha electrode array configuration with minimum electrode spacing of 3.00 m. Results from the resistivity model reveals high resistivity values (> 998 ohm-m) which corresponds to the position of the buried sludge and a low resistivity values ranging from 33.5 - 88 ohm-m indicating the geo-electric signatures of the buried metal scraps. Both the resistivity and IP models could not resolve the position of the buried domestic waste but the IP models revealed chargeability values of 84 msec and 54 msec corresponding to the positions of the buried oil sludge and metal scraps respectively. The results of this research show that integrated technique applied at the same location allows a more precise description of the subsurface and thus reduced the degree of ambiguity and improvement in the interpretation of anomaly greatly.

Keywords: Electrical resistivity, Induce polarization, Chargeability, Wenner alpha array, Buried waste