Application of Electrical Resistivity and Ground Magnetic Investigation of Ironstones Deposits in Abiati Akamkpa Lga Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

Ironstones form part of production materials for cement production and is locally sourced in abaiti village as supply materials for nearby Dangote Cement Company. Geophysical investigations using vertical Electrical sounding technique and ground magnetic survey were employed to investigate the depth of occurrence of the suppose iron or deposits. Two profiles each of VES and ground magnetic data were acquired using ABEM SAS 1000 and GSM-19T magnetometer.The data sets were processed using manual and computer processed techniques. The magnetic data were corrected manually for diurnal variation corrections and plotted as anomaly profiles while the VES data was processed using the zoody software programme plotted as modelled plots. The magnetic depth results indicate that the iron ores are between 4-5m with magnetic susceptibilities of -40nT to -160nT. While the VES results indicate that the iron ore is exposed from surface to depth of 7.0m with resistivity values ranging between 4090.7 ohm/m - 5295.1 ohm/m . The study reveals a thin occurrence of about 7.0m of ironstone deposit and will require a more detail investigation in computing the volume of deposit in place.