Analysis and interpretation of Ibuji spring magnetic anomaly using the Mellin transform

The Mellin transform is a mathematical tool which has been applied in many areas of Mathematics, Physics and Engineering. Its application in Geophysics is in the computation of solution of potential problems for the determination of the mass as well as the depth to the basement of some solid mineral deposits. In this study, the Mellin transform is used to determine the depth to the top (h) and the depth to the bottom (H) of the basement of a profile of an anomalous magnetic body. Ibuji, the study area is located in Ifedore Local Government area of Ondo state, Nigeria, underlain by Precambrian complex rocks and bounded by geographical co-ordinate of Easting 5°00t’00″ to 5°4t’30″ and Northing 7°24t’00″ to 7°27t’36″. The magnetic anomaly profile due to a two- dimensional body(vertical thin sheet)over magnetic spring of the study area was digitised and the values of magnetic amplitude (nT) with respect to its horizontal distance (say interval of 5 m) obtained from the digitized profile was then used in the computation of Mellin transform using Matlab programs. In order to determine the depths H and h, the amplitudes were considered at three arbitrary point (s = ¼, ½ and ¾) such that, (0 < s < 1), where s is a complex variable of real positive integer. The value obtained for H was 47.95 m, which compared favourably with the result obtained using other methods. Meanwhile, the value obtained for h has a convergence restriction, whereby, at lower values of s, there is divergence, while at higher values of s, (about 0.9), the result converges and h was obtained to be 32.56 m. The Ibuji magnetic anomaly was therefore analysed to have a depth to the bottom (H) of 47.95 m and depth to the top of 32.56 m using this mathematical tool.     

Hydraulic characteristics of the Maastrichtian sedimentary rocks of the southeastern Bida Basin, central Nigeria

A set of outcrop samples from the Lokoja and Patti Formations of the southern Bida Basin (Nigeria) was examined for grain size distribution, sedimentary and hydraulic characteristics. Most of the samples are well-sorted with an uniformity coefficient (U) ranging between 1.3 and 6.3. The mean effective grain diameter (d₁₀) is in the order of 0.11 mm, the mean value of d₉₀ was determined as 0.66 mm (both geometric mean) and the median grain size (d₅₀) as 0.23 mm. Based on these values, the sedimentary sequence can be described as ‘fine to medium sized sand’, having minor amounts of either silt, or coarse sand and some gravel. The total porosity of the samples was determined by laboratory methods to be in the range of 9–29%. The hydraulic conductivity (K) was determined according to Hazen.and Beyer, and by Shepherd's formula, the last resulting in a geometric mean of 3.3 m d⁻¹ or 3.3 darcy. The results are used to estimate local groundwater potential. The entire pore space (potential groundwater reservoir) for the area under study is estimated to be in the order of 290–430 km³. Because of higher hydraulic conductivities, it is recommended that the Lokoja Formation is concentrated on as a target for groundwater exploration.     

Drought disaster monitoring and land use dynamics: identification of drought drivers using regression-based algorithms

Natural Hazards - Droughts are particularly disastrous in South Africa and other arid regions that are water-scarce by nature due to low rainfall and water sources. According to some studies,...     

Data modelling for crude oil migration studies using ranking method: a rapid geo-tracer technique for geochemists

The direction of oil charges within a field in the Niger Delta, Nigeria was determined by the sum of differences ranking method of carbazole concentrations after ascertaining other possible geological constraints on their compositional variations. The principle is that the smaller the sum, the closer the well to the source kitchen. The approach makes use of carbazoles’ interaction with the matrix, which leads to a reduction in their concentration with increasing distance from the source kitchen, allowing prediction of the charging direction. A wide range of compositional variations was observed for C₁ (806.72–2152.90 μg/g) and C₂ (767–2469.72 μg/g) carbazoles within the field. Based on these results, we inferred a filling pathway orientation from west to east. This suggests that the source kitchen—the most promising region for oil exploration—is located in the western part of the oil field.     

Ionospheric response to magnetic activity at low and mid-latitude stations

The F2-layer response to the moderate storm of 5–7 April 2010 was investigated using data from two equatorial stations (Ilorin: lat. 8.5°N, 4.5°E; Kwajalein: lat. 9°N, long. 167.2°E) and mid-latitude (San Vito: lat. 40.6°N, long. 17.8°E; Pruhonice: lat. 50°N, long. 14.6°E). Before storm commencement, enhancement, and depletion of NmF2 values were observed in the equatorial and mid-latitude stations, respectively, indicating the latitudinal dependence of the pre-storm event. All the stations with the exception of Kwajalein show positive phase in NmF2 response at the storm onset stage. Positive phase in NmF2 continues over Ilorin and appears on the daytime ionosphere of Kwajalein on 6 April, whereas negative phase suppressed the positive feature in Pruhonice and San Vito until the recovery condition. The differences in the response of F2-layer to the storm for the two equatorial stations were attributed to their longitudinal differences. On the average, both the AE and D _st indices revealed poor correlation relationship. More studies are required to ascertain this finding.     

Sedimentology and depositional environments of the Maastrichtian Patti Formation, southeastern Bida Basin, Nigeria

The Maastrichtian Patti Formation, which consists of shale - claystone and sandstone members, constitutes one of the three Upper Cretaceous lithostratigraphic units of the intracratonic southeastern Bida Basin, in central Nigeria. Well exposed outcrops of this formation were investigated at various locations around the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers. The lithostratigraphic sections were measured and their peculiar sedimentological features such as textures, physical and biogenic sedimentary structures, facies variations and associations were documented and used to interpret the depositional environments and develop a paleogeographic model. Some selected representative samples of the sedimentary depositional facies were also subjected to grain size analysis.Three shoreline sedimentary depositional facies composed of shoreface, tidal channel, and tidal marsh to coastal swamp facies were recognized in the study area. Continental sedimentary depositional facies such as fluvial channel, swamp, and overbank were also documented. The sandstones of the shoreface and tidal channel facies are medium- to coarse-grained, moderately sorted (standard deviation ranges from 0.45–1.28 averaging 0.72), and quartzarenitic. The fluvial channel sandstone facies are coarse- to very coarse-grained, mostly poorly sorted (standard deviation ranges from 0.6–1.56 averaging 1.17), and subarkosic. Typical sedimentary structures displayed by the shoreface and tidal channel facies include burrows, clay drapes, hummocky and herringbone cross stratifications, whereas the fluvial channel sandstone facies are dominated by massive and planar cross beddings. The tidal marsh to coastal swamp shales and ferruginised siltstone facies are fossiliferous and bioturbated, whereas the nonmarine swamp siltstones contain vegetal imprints and lignite interbeds. The overbank claystone facies are massive and kaolinitic.In the study area, a regressive to transgressive model is proposed for the Patti Formation. This model correlates with stratigraphically equivalent sediments of the Ajali and Mamu Formations in the adjacent Anambra Basin to a great extent.     

Stream energy distribution below Eleyele Dam in Southwestern Nigeria

Expressing the rate of energy dissipation either within a basin or in a downstream manner is important in understanding occurrence and association between various morphological variables. This study focuses on the downstream variation in stream power and its relationship with morphological variates along the main channel of River Ona, Ibadan, Nigeria. River Ona stretches for 20.5 km downstream of Eleyele Dam. Twenty‐seven (27) points were sampled along this stretch. The 27 points were averaged into nine (9) reaches. At each cross‐section, channel characteristics were observed and measured. These include: width (W), depth (D), velocity (V), slope (S), Cross‐sectional area (A), discharge (Q), total stream power (TSP), specific stream power (SSP), width‐depth ratio (W/D), hydraulic radius (R) and wetted perimeter (P). This study confirmed that the influence of a dam present upstream of a river channel significantly alters the behaviour of slope and this in essence affects the distribution of energy along the river channel. Slope produces a logarithmic relationship with increasing distance downstream (Y = ‐32.79‐0.70InS, r = 0.70, r2 = 0.49, p < 0.05) while there was no significant relationship between Q and distance downstream.     

Continuous permeability predictions in heterogeneous reservoirs using Vshale and microstructure calibrated free-fluid models (a combined study of a Niger Delta field and the tight gas sandstone of the southern North Sea)

The well-established free-fluid model from NMR technique provides continuous permeability values that closely match with core permeabilities better than most theoretical models especially when it is core calibrated for field specific use. However, only few wells have NMR logs in a field while marginal fields may not have any due to economic reasons. This study explored means of achieving one of the overriding objectives of most marginal field operators, which is to reduce the overall cost of production to the attainable minimum. The free-fluid model was modified into two simple and cost-effective models in order to optimize its applicability to predict permeability in the absence of NMR data. The two new models, which were developed for the single and double porosity systems analyzed in this study, consist of calibration parameters that can be empirically determined to account for variation in reservoir quality based on the rock type profile per field. A non-matrix parameter, α, was introduced into the model derived for tight gas sandstone being regarded as a double-porosity formation. This inclusion represents the permeability contribution of natural fractures or any crack-like pores to the different flow units. By using the alternative version to the known free-fluid model, continuous permeability curves that match experimental results were predicted without NMR logs.     

South Africa’s soft power and the diplomacy of nuclear geopolitics

GeoJournal - From when it was reaccepted into the international community in the early 1990s, South Africa has made significant contributions towards the construction of new international regimes...     

Modelling of malaria incidence in Akure,Nigeria: negative binomial approach

The connections between malaria incidence and climate variability have been studied in recent time using some mathematical and statistical models. Many of the statistical models in literature focused on time series approach based on Box–Jenkins methodology. However, fitting time series model based on the Box–Jenkins methodology may be challenging. Most malaria incidence data are count and are over-dispersed. In this study, negative binomial models were formulated for fitting malaria incidence in Akure—one of the epidemic cities in Nigeria. In particular, negative binomial models were formulated for each of the number of outpatient individuals, number of inpatient individuals and mortality count as a function of some climate variables. It was found that an increase in minimum temperature and relative humidity at lag 1 significantly increased the chance of malaria transmission and thereby leads to an increase in the number of inpatient and outpatient individuals, as well as the total number of malaria cases. The minimum temperature, rainfall amount and relative humidity of the study area have a significant impact on the increase of number of inpatient and outpatient individuals while mortality count depends on the total number of reported malaria cases. The findings from this study is to offer in-depth understanding on climate-malaria incidence linkages in Akure, Nigeria.