Lineaments Analysis and Interpretation for Assessment of Groundwater Potential of Lafia and Environs, North Central Nigeria

This work was carried out to investigate the groundwater potentials of Lafia and environs using lineaments analysis. It studied the relationship between the characteristics and occurrence of groundwater in aquifers ranging from 50m-150m depth in the varying sedimentary rocks of the area by examining the possibility of groundwater occurrence in the different sedimentary rocks, despite the general understanding that shales are less porous and permeable. It shows the use of LANDSAT ETM+ imagery and geological map to investigate areas favourable for groundwater development. This was achieved by plotting the lineament trends, and lineament density to know the groundwater potentials. Rose (azimuth-frequency) diagram of the lineaments delineated on the imagery shows the trends in the directions N-S, NE-SW and NW-SE. The two dominant trends are N-S and NW-SE. The analyses have shown that the study area has numerous fractures whose major trends are mainly in north-south and northwest-southeast directions. Lineament density maps shows the cross-cutting lineaments are relatively high in the areas around the north-eastern south-western parts of the study area but low in the other areas. The zones of high lineament intersection density are feasible zones for groundwater prospecting.