GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION FOR POTENTIAL CLAY DEPOSITS USING 2- DIMENSIONAL ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TOMOGRAPHY TECHNIQUE IN OLOGBO COMMUNITY OF EDO STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

The occurrence and significance of clay have been acknowledged since the very beginning of civilisation, essentially for making bricks, cooking pots, and construction of mud houses. Hence, geophysical investigation for clay deposits was carried out with the application of 2-D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) of the electrical resistivity method using Wenner-Schlumberger array
in Ologbo Area of Edo State, Nigeria in order to establish and characterize its presence. The field geometry was made up of three traverses each measuring 200.00 m. 2-D ERT data obtained were processed using Res2dinv software. The results of the survey showed the presence of clay deposits occurring at 18 - 26.90 m and 7.75- 13.5 m for Traverse 1. Also, for Traverse 2, clay is meagrely deposited at 2.5 - 6.00 m and 2.5 - 4.00 m. The resistivities of the clay deposit varied from about 50.00 to 116.00 Ωm. However, in traverse 3, there is absence of clay deposits as this area is predominately lateritic (552 to 1804 Ωm) and shale (2286 to 2897 Ωm). Areas of possible clay deposits have been established which would be of economic importance, if exploited