Abstract—Transmissivity of aquifers is a very useful parameter in assessment and management of groundwater resources. The most reliable means of obtaining transmissivity is through pumping tests, a tedious and expensive exercise which requires that many tests be done to obtain spatial distribution. Geophysical methods provide a means of rapidly obtaining data over large areas and if carefully processed and interpreted, can provide useful information on the areas being investigated. Electrical methods measure electrical resistivity distribution in the subsurface, a parameter that has been linked to and used to characterise hydraulic properties of aquifers. Direct and inverse relationships between Dar Zarrouk parameters obtained from resistivity sounding have been explored with the sole aim of characterizing aquifer properties. This paper presents one of such applications in determining the spatial distribution of transmissivity of a sandstone aquifer in Nigeria. The study area, Lafia is underlain by the Lafia Sandstone; the aquiferous zone is the sandstone unit of the formation consisting entirely of clean sandstone. The method here involved exploring the inverse relationship between the Dar Zarrouk parameter: longitudinal conductance and aquifer transmissivity obtained from pumping tests for a few points to obtain a constant. This constant was then used to translate resistivity measurements from 19 VES points to transmissivity and in so doing, obtaining the distribution of transmissivity over the study area.

Index Terms—Aquifer, Sandstone, Transmissivity, Electrical Resistivity, Dar Zarrouk

Cite:Aisha Abubakar Kana and Ahmad Abubakar Kana, "Transmissivity Distribution in the Sandstone Aquifer around Lafia, Nigeria Using the Dar Zarrouk Transmissivity Technique," International Journal of Geology and Earth Science, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 15-24, June 2019. doi: 10.18178/ijges.5.2.15-24