Abstract
The geophysical study of the spread of plant roots have become imperative due to its effect on buildings. Most buildings constructed close to trees; without taking into consideration the extent of root spread, have experienced cracks which sometimes lead to the collapse of such buildings. To investigate the horizontal and vertical spread of plant roots at the University of Benin Engineering field, Edo State, Nigeria, a two-dimensional electrical resistivity imaging was done using the Wenner-Schlumberger array configuration. Data were collected along two profiles; profile 1 was taken along tree paths and profile 2 along grassland area, some distance from profile 1. Profile 1 showed a very resistive top layer underlain by a low resistive layer. The top layer which appeared to be highly resistive was due to the presence of fluid absorbers within that layer. The fluid absorbers are the roots from the trees which are distributed both vertically and horizontally within the layer. With the inversion results, the depths of the roots were estimated to be between 5.00m and 7.50m from the surface; with resistivity values of between 610.00Ωm to 1700 Ωm. The resistivity distribution obtained in profile 2 appears to be more homogeneous than the results obtained from profile 1 with resistivity values of between 320 Ωm to 3500.00 Ωm from the top layer to the bottom layer. The uniformity in the resistivity distribution with depth was due to the absence of tree roots within the formation
 Keywords: Tree roots, inhomogeneous, resistivity
Highlights
The damage on structures caused by tree roots can be direct or indirect
In order to study the effect of tree roots on electrical resistivity of the subsurface lithology in the study location, data were obtained along two profile lines; Profile 1 was taken along the path dominated by trees and profile 2 was along a grassland area; some distance from the tree area
The inhomogeneous zone are layers that are homogeneous with varying thickness and the resistivity values are between 1113 Ωm to 3500 Ωm
Summary
The damage on structures caused by tree roots can be direct or indirect. Direct damage is damage caused by the mechanical action of any part of a tree in direct contact with part of a structure. ERI has been used to characterize temporal changes in moisture content (Jayawickreme et al, 2008) explore for the first-time natural interactions between seasonal soil moisture dynamics, climate variability, and vegetation differences using timelapse ERI For this analysis, they equipped a forestgrassland ecotone with a suite of hydrogeophysical equipment. They equipped a forestgrassland ecotone with a suite of hydrogeophysical equipment Their observations from this ecotone demonstrate that ERI can be used to accurately quantify the spatiotemporal distribution of root-zone moisture content, bridging critical gaps between remotely-sensed and in-situ point measurements. This information is essential to project the influence of changing climate and land covers on hydrologic fluxes and ecosystem sustainability. The purpose of this research is to investigate the depth and spread of plant roots due to its effects on buildings
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