Abstract
The study area lies within the Upper Benue Trough South of Gombe town. Field study was carried out by methods of compass traversing and traversing along stream courses. Gombe formation, exposing 3 sandstone lithofacies comprising the upper, middle and lower members, in this part of the Trough, has a thickness of about 63 m. 2 aquiferous zones occur in the formation. The upper aquifer is found towards the bottom of the upper member of the formation and sometimes at the top of the middle member where sandstone beds interbed with impervious layers of ironstone. The middle member of the formation is essentially an aquitard and overlies the lower member which is an aquifer. Both aquifers are low water yielding. Analysis of grain size of the lower aquifer shows that the sandstones are very fine-grained to fine- to medium-grained, poorly sorted to moderately sorted, and they are river or beach sediments. The intrinsic permeability of the sediments (aquifers) determined from the grain size varies from 1.215 × 10-4 to 3.840 × 10-4cm/s. The aquifers can be developed for rural water supplies. Key words: Groundwater, aquifer, Upper Benue trough, Gombe formation, Nigeria.
Highlights
Sediments are very fine- grained to fine - grained, poorly sorted to moderately sorted and they are river or beach sediments
The problem with accumulation of groundwater in the Gombe formation is related to the sedimentation character of the sediments and the stratigraphical sequence; an upper thickly bedded, medium- to coarse-grained section is separated from the lower very fine-to fine-grained section intercalated within thin beds of ironstone by a middle section which is mainly clay, mudstone and siltstone with intercalation of ironstone layers, 10 – 15 cm thick towards its top
At Gedawo, it is believed that the community water supply powered by Pedal Flo-Solar System comes from this aquifer
Summary
The problem with accumulation of groundwater in the Gombe formation is related to the sedimentation character of the sediments and the stratigraphical sequence; an upper thickly bedded, medium- to coarse-grained section is separated from the lower very fine-to fine-grained section intercalated within thin beds of ironstone by a middle section which is mainly clay, mudstone and siltstone with intercalation of ironstone layers, 10 – 15 cm thick towards its top. This sequence favours accumulation of groundwater in the upper section of the Gombe formation and because this section is very pervious, water of meteoric source which infiltrates fairly into it is trapped/stopped at the top of the middle section and the water accumulates here and makes this part of the upper section an aquifer. Chamji Lergo Abba Bazai Zongo Garin Magaza Garin Dulo Jauro Yaya Pandaya Haman Buzu
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