scholarly journals Application of electrical resistivity tomography for mapping gold mineralization potential in Iperindo, Ilesha schist belt, southwestern Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Olawale OlakunleOsinowo ◽  
Ahmed Kehinde Usman ◽  
Ayotunde Allen Omitoogun

This study applied Electrical Resistivity Tomography geophysical investigation technique to evaluate the gold mineralization potential of Iperindo in Ilesha Schist Belt, southwestern Nigeria, where commercial exploitation capable of generating revenue and employment for the inhabitants has been challenged by lack / inadequate subsurface geological/geophysical information. The filtered and inverted electrical resistivity data acquired through five (5) 336 m long E – W trending profiles, established 10 m apart from each other, delineate isolated near surface but thick (> 30 m) low resistivity zones, especially at the eastern and western ends of the study area. Some of the delineated low resistivity zones (3 – 200 𝛀m) present vertical sharp edges, likely created by vertical faults that flank the zones on both sides. The low resistivity of these zones could be attributed to the occurrence of conductive material such as gold and associated base metals which probably exist in pegmatitic veins within the zones.   

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 559 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Gabarrón ◽  
Pedro Martínez-Pagán ◽  
Marcos Martínez-Segura ◽  
María Bueso ◽  
Silvia Martínez-Martínez ◽  
...  

The legacy of the mining industry has left a large number of tailing ponds in the Cartagena–La Unión mining district exposed to water and wind erosion, which causes serious environmental and health problems and requires remediation. Before applying any remediation technique, an intensive sampling of the materials infilling the pond is required to determine the geochemistry of the pond, which will condition the remediation process. However, sampling the large number of tailing ponds that compose the district could be expensive. Thus, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) as a non-invasive tool to provide an image of spatial subsurface resistivity distribution and its relation to the physicochemical composition of near-surface mine wastes. To achieve this objective, three short ERT profiles were conducted, and 12 samples in each profile were collected at different depths for its geochemical characterization. Several non-linear regression models were fitted to predict physicochemical properties and metal concentrations from electrical resistivity measures. As a result, a high resistivity area was depicted in the ERT profiles G2 and G3, while the low resistivity ERT profile G1 was also obtained in accordance with the site’s surficial characteristics. Relationships among low resistivity values and high salinity, clay content, high metal concentrations, and mobility were established. Specifically, calibrated models were obtained for electrical conductivity, particle sizes of 0.02–50 µm and 50–2000 µm, total Zn and Cd concentration, and bioavailable Ni, Cd, and Fe. The ERT technique was shown to be a useful tool for the approximation of the location and distribution of the highest ranges of fine particle sizes, moisture, and, to a lesser extent, metal accumulation in the near-surface waste materials.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Scandroglio ◽  
Till Rehm ◽  
Jonas K. Limbrock ◽  
Andreas Kemna ◽  
Markus Heinze ◽  
...  

<p>The warming of alpine bedrock permafrost in the last three decades and consequent reduction of frozen areas has been well documented. Its consequences like slope stability reduction put humans and infrastructures at high risk. 2020 in particular was the warmest year on record at 3000m a.s.l. embedded in the warmest decade.</p><p>Recently, the development of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) as standard technique for quantitative permafrost investigation allows extended monitoring of this hazard even allowing including quantitative 4D monitoring strategies (Scandroglio et al., in review). Nevertheless thermo-hydro-mechanical dynamics of steep bedrock slopes cannot be totally explained by a single measurement technique and therefore multi-approach setups are necessary in the field to record external forcing and improve the deciphering of internal responses.</p><p>The Zugspitze Kammstollen is a 850m long tunnel located between 2660 and 2780m a.s.l., a few decameters under the mountain ridge. First ERT monitoring was conducted in 2007 (Krautblatter et al., 2010) and has been followed by more than one decade of intensive field work. This has led to the collection of a unique multi-approach data set of still unpublished data. Continuous logging of environmental parameters such as rock/air temperatures and water infiltration through joints as well as a dedicated thermal model (Schröder and Krautblatter, in review) provide important additional knowledge on bedrock internal dynamics. Summer ERT and seismic refraction tomography surveys with manual and automated joints’ displacement measurements on the ridge offer information on external controls, complemented by three weather stations and a 44m long borehole within 1km from the tunnel.</p><p>Year-round access to the area enables uninterrupted monitoring and maintenance of instruments for reliable data collection. “Precisely controlled natural conditions”, restricted access for researchers only and logistical support by Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus, make this tunnel particularly attractive for developing benchmark experiments. Some examples are the design of induced polarization monitoring, the analysis of tunnel spring water for isotopes investigation, and the multi-annual mass monitoring by means of relative gravimetry.</p><p>Here, we present the recently modernized layout of the outdoor laboratory with the latest monitoring results, opening a discussion on further possible approaches of this extensive multi-approach data set, aiming at understanding not only permafrost thermal evolution but also the connected thermo-hydro-mechanical processes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Krautblatter, M. et al. (2010) ‘Temperature-calibrated imaging of seasonal changes in permafrost rock walls by quantitative electrical resistivity tomography (Zugspitze, German/Austrian Alps)’, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 115(2), pp. 1–15. doi: 10.1029/2008JF001209.</p><p>Scandroglio, R. et al. (in review) ‘4D-Quantification of alpine permafrost degradation in steep rock walls using a laboratory-calibrated ERT approach (in review)’, Near Surface Geophysics.</p><p>Schröder, T. and Krautblatter, M. (in review) ‘A high-resolution multi-phase thermo-geophysical model to verify long-term electrical resistivity tomography monitoring in alpine permafrost rock walls (Zugspitze, German/Austrian Alps) (submitted)’, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 1962
Author(s):  
G. Vargemezis ◽  
P. Tsourlos ◽  
I. Mertzanides

The most common geophysical method widely used in hydrogeological surveys concerning deep investigations (150-300m of depth) is the resistivity method and particularly the Vertical Electric Sounding (VES) using the Schlumberger array. VES interpretations assume 1D geoelectrical structure yet it is obvious that such an interpretation assumption is not valid in many cases where 2D and 3D geological features exist. In such cases the application of geoelectrical techniques which can provide both vertical and lateral information concerning the resistivity variations is required. Techniques such as the electrical resistivity tomography, mostly used for the 2D and 3D geoelectrical mapping of near surface applications can be adapted to be used for larger investigation depths provided that modified equipment (viz. cables) is used. In the present paper, the application of deep electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) techniques is applied. ERT array of 21 electrodes, at a distance of 50 meters between them (total length 1000 meters) has been used in several studied areas located in the prefecture of Kavala (North Greece). In several cases near surface structure has been compared with VLF data. The aim of the survey was to study in detail the geological-hydrogeological structure the area of interest in order to suggest the best location for the construction of hydrowells with the most promising results. The 2D images of the geological structure down to the depth of at least 200 meters allowed the better understanding of the behaviour of layered geological formations, since in several cases resistivity values have been calibrated with data from pre-existing boreholes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 265 ◽  
pp. 03005
Author(s):  
Dmitriy Gorbach ◽  
Valeriya Yakimenko ◽  
Olga Konovalova

The paper reviews methods of engineering geophysics which can be applied to sections of railway tracks. The method of electrical resistivity tomography is used to study the properties of the geological situation under an engineering structure. In the course of practical work, two-dimensional geoelectric sections were obtained. Interpretation of the sections allowed to understand the structure of the near-surface zone.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Vanella ◽  
Juan Ramírez-Cuesta ◽  
Diego Intrigliolo ◽  
Simona Consoli

An adjusted satellite-based model was proposed with the aim of improving spatially distributed evapotranspiration (ET) estimates under plant water stress conditions. Remote sensing data and near surface geophysics information, using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), were used in a revised version of the original dual crop coefficient (Kc) FAO-56 approach. Sentinel 2-A imagery were used to compute vegetation indices (VIs) required for spatially estimating ET. The potentiality of the ERT technique was exploited for tracking the soil wetting distribution patterns during and after irrigation phases. The ERT-derived information helped to accurately estimate the wet exposed fraction (few) and therefore the water evaporated from the soil surface into the dual Kc FAO-56 approach. Results, validated by site-specific ET measurements (ETEC) obtained using the eddy covariance (EC) technique, showed that ERT-adjusted ET estimates (ETERT) were considerably reduced (15%) when compared with the original dual Kc FAO-56 approach (ETFAO), soil evaporation overestimation being the main reason for these discrepancies. Nevertheless, ETFAO and ETERT showed overestimations of 64% and 40% compared to ETEC. This is because both approaches determine ET under standard conditions without water limitation, whereas EC is able to determine ET even under soil water deficit conditions. From the comparison between ETEC and ETERT, the water stress coefficient was experimentally derived, reaching a mean value for the irrigation season of 0.74. The obtained results highlight how new technologies for soil water status monitoring can be incorporated for improving ET estimations, particularly under drip irrigation conditions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincheng Jiang ◽  
Gang Tian ◽  
Bangbing Wang ◽  
Amr Abd El-Raouf

<p>In recent decades, geoelectrical methods have played a very important role in near-surface investigation. The most widely used of these methods is electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). Regardless of the forward and inversion algorithms used, the original data collected from a survey is the most important factor for quality of the resulted model. However, 3D electrical resistivity survey design continues to be based on data sets recorded using one or more of the standard electrode arrays. There is a recognized need for the 3D survey design to get better resolution using fewer data. Choosing suitable data from the comprehensive data set is a great approach. By reasonable selecting, better resolution can be obtained with fewer electrodes and measurements than conventional arrays. Previous research has demonstrated that the optimized survey design using the 'Compare R' method can give a nice performance.</p><p>This paper adds target-oriented selection and modified the original 'Compare R' method. The survey design should be focused on specific target areas, which need a priori information about the subsurface properties. We select electrodes and configurations as the target set by the comprehensive set firstly which meets the requirements of the target area. The number of measurements and electrodes is much less than the comprehensive set and the model resolution matrix takes less time to calculate. At the next step for rank, we calculate the sensitivity matrix of the target set only once and then calculate the contribution degree of each measurement separately from it. The time of iterative calculation of the resolution matrix when measurements set changing is less than the original method.</p><p>The traditional method of evaluating RMS is not appropriate for comparing the quality of collected data by different survey designs. SSIM (structural similarity index) gives more reliable measures of image similarity better than the RMS. The curves of SSIM values in three dimensions and the average SSIM are given as quantitative comparisons. Besides, the frequency of electrodes utilized given to guides on selecting the highest used electrodes. Finally, the curves of the average relative resolution S and the number of electrodes as the number of measurements increase are given, which proves the method works effectively.</p><p>The results show the significance of using target-oriented optimized survey design, as it selects fewer electrodes and arrays than the original CR method. Also, it produces better resolution than conventional arrays and takes less calculation time. 3D SSIM, frequency of electrodes used, the relationship between average relative resolution, number of electrodes and number of measurements, these quantitative comparison methods can effectively evaluate the data collected in various survey designs.</p>


Author(s):  
O. F. Ogunlana ◽  
O. M. Alile ◽  
O. J. Airen

The Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) data was acquired within the area suspected to have high potential for bitumen occurrence using the Wenner-Schlumberger configuration in Agbabu, southwestern Nigeria. PASI 16GL-N Earth resistivity meter instrument was used to acquire data along five (5) traverses with 5m electrode spacing and traverses length of 150m. The apparent resistivity values obtained was processed using RES2DINV software which helped to automatically obtain the 2D inversion model of the subsurface. This study has shown the occurrence of bitumen between the depth of 13.4m and 9.93m for Traverses 1, 2, 3 and Traverses 4, 5 respectively in a 2-Dimensional electrical resistivity images for boreholes with a depth of about 18m. The results indicate that the bitumen is characterized by good lateral continuity and is sufficiently thick for commercial exploitation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 895-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Kneisel ◽  
A. Bast ◽  
D. Schwindt

Abstract. Up to now an efficient 3-D geophysical mapping of the subsurface in mountainous environments with rough terrain has not been possible. A merging approach of several closely spaced 2-D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys to build up a quasi-3-D model of the electrical resistivity is presented herein as a practical compromise for inferring subsurface characteristics and lithology. The ERT measurements were realised in a small glacier forefield in the Swiss Alps with complex terrain exhibiting a small scale spatial variability of surface substrate. To build up the grid for the quasi-3-D measurements the ERT surveys were arranged as parallel profiles and perpendicular tie lines. The measured 2-D datasets were collated into one quasi-3-D file. A forward modelling approach – based on studies at a permafrost site below timberline – was used to optimize the geophysical survey design for the mapping of the mountain permafrost distribution in the investigated glacier forefield. Quasi-3-D geoelectrical imaging is a useful method for mapping of heterogeneous frozen ground conditions and can be considered as a further milestone in the application of near surface geophysics in mountain permafrost environments.


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