Abstract
The heat flux system within the Precambrian basement complex in northwestern Nigeria has been poorly studied and little is known about the potential of the constituent petrologic units as regards geothermal resources. The earth crust gets heated up by a combination of processes, prominent among them is radioactive decay of 40K, 232Th and 238U radionuclides. Radioelement concentrations were measured within the rock units that dominate the basement complex namely quaternary sediments, carbonates, metasediments, younger granites, metavolcanics, older granites, migmatite and gneissic rock. Statistical parameters were estimated to deduce the radioactive absorbed dose of the various rock units. Quaternary sediments recorded the lowest mean dose while gneissic rock recorded the highest mean dose given as 112.09 nGy.h−1 and 264.54 nGy.h−1 respectively. One-way analysis of variance performed in this study showed distinct statistical significant variations of the radioelement concentrations in the dose assessment of the rock units. The contributing percentages of the radioelements for all the studied rock units were in the order 40K > 232Th > 238U. Two major classes of rock unit namely clastic rocks and plutonic rocks were assessed for their heat production capacity. The clastic rocks comprising quaternary sediments and carbonates presented mean heat production units given as 0.528 µWm−3 and 0.784 µWm−3 respectively while the plutonic rocks comprising granite and gneissic rock presented mean heat production units given as 1.404 µWm−3 and 1.982 µWm−3 respectively. Subsequently, heat generation unit estimations were extrapolated from the heat production values with gneissic rock showing the highest value given as 5.5660 HGU. These results which may assume theoretical pilot status towards geothermal resource investigation in northwestern Nigeria are in tandem with other similar studies performed around the globe.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
