AN ANALYSIS OF AQUIFER CHARACTERISTICS IN PARTS OF RIVERS STATE USING GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES

Abstract

Water is a basic necessity of life for humans. Plants and animals, all living things depend on water for survival. Water can be classified into two categories which include surface water and groundwater. Surface water can be described as those water found on the surface of the earth which include streams, lakes and rivers etc. (Water, 2015),  these surface water can be contaminated by rain water runoff from homes, business, roads, fertilizers and pesticides from gardens as well as fluid that leaks from automobiles which can get washed into surface water supplies on a large scale. Groundwater are those water that can be found underground beneath the earth surface and they are stored in an aquifer. Due to the level of obvious contamination in surface water today, humans now depend mostly on groundwater for drinking and cooking. But studies have shown that, this groundwater is not 100% safe due to poor characteristics of some aquifers which can also allow for contamination during recharge from surface water (Krivochieva and Chouteau, 2003, Tamunobereton-ari et al., 2010a; Tamunobereton-ari et al., 2010b). An aquifer can be seen as any layer of underground rock which can store and transmit water from one point to the other, and because groundwater can also be contaminated, therefore it is important that we analyze the quality of aquifer of the area in order to know the suitability of the groundwater if it is good for drinking and this can be achieved using geophysical techniques (Taylor Charles, 1997).