Estimation of overburden thickness of industrial estate Ogbomoso, Southwestern Nigeria

Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) geophysical method was used to delineate Oyo State Industrial Estate, Ogbomoso South Local Government Area, Southwestern Nigeria. The study area falls within latitude 080 06′ 07.4″ and 080 06′ 25.4″ and longitude 0040 15′ 03.3″ and 0040 15′ 49.0″. The research was conducted with a view to estimating the overburden thickness and to know the competent zones with respect to engineering purpose in the study area. Ten Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) were carried out across the area using the schlumberger electrode array configuration with current electrode separation (AB) varying from 130m to 200m. Nine out of the ten modeled curves were H-type where the remaining one was KH-type. The geoelectric sections obtained from the sounding curves revealed 3-layer and 4-layer earth models respectively. The models showed the subsurface layers categorized into the topsoil/first layer, second layer, third layer (which only revealed beneath one VES station), and the last layer (which is either fractured basement or fresh bedrock). Areas with thick overburden and those with fractured basement are the areas that factories making use of heavy machines should not be built on it. This is because the continual vibration of the heavy machines might cause subsidence in the factories in the future which might lead to loss of life and properties

Geoelectric assessment of groundwater prospect and vulnerability of overburden aquifers at Adumasun Area, Oniye, Southwestern Nigeria

Adumasun lies on a Precambrian basement complex of Southwestern Nigeria. Some kilometers away from the study area especially at Igangan is characterized by outcrops of crystalline basement rocks. Inadequate municipal water supply from State Water Corporation, coupled with hydrogeologically difficult nature of the terrain, individuals and corporate bodies indiscriminately sink tube wells and boreholes within the unconsolidated overburden materials, with glaring lack of concerns for the vulnerability status of aquifers, and possible environmental risk. Vertical Electrical Sounding method was used to map Adumasun area, Oniye, Oyo State with a view to assessing the groundwater prospect, focused on the thickness of the unconsolidated materials overlying the crystalline bedrock. The resistivity parameters of the geoelectric topmost layer across the area were also used to assess the vulnerability of the underlying aquifers to near-surface contaminants. The thickness of the unconsolidated overburden varies from 3.1m to 20.1m, where about 60% falls within the 10m-14.9m brackets. This shows that unconsolidated materials are not thick and hence averagely low groundwater prospect. 80% of the topmost geoelectric layer in the study area has resistivity mostly within the range of 1-100Wm. Resistivity values within these brackets tend to indicate silt or clay sequence, which can constitute effective protective geologic barriers for the underlying aquifers. This suggests that aquifers within the unconsolidated overburden at Adumasun are mostly capped by impervious/semi-pervious materials, geologically protecting the underlying aquifers from near-surface contaminants

Groundmagnetic survey to investigate on the fault pattern of industrial estate Ogbomoso, Southwestern Nigeria

Groundmagnetic method was used to investigate on the fault pattern of industrial estate Ogbomoso which falls within latitude 080 06′ 07.4″ and 080 06′ 25.4″ and longitude 0040 15′ 03.3″ and 0040 15′ 49.0″ Southwestern Nigeria, with a view to determining the competency of the basement. This is to know whether the basement will be competent enough to withstand the construction of the factories in the study area or not. A total of four traverses were established for the purpose of the groundmagnetic study, and the results were presented as groundmagnetic profiles of varying magnetic intensities. Result from first vertical derivative revealed that the intensities and characteristics nature of the magnetic anomalies as expressed by all profiles are indicative of the different rock types producing them. Qualitative and quantitative interpretation of individual magnetic anomaly and geological knowledge of the survey area yielded information on the depth of geological features (e.g. rock contact, faults or fractures), structures and magnetic properties of rock units. From the preliminary interpretation, the existence of some structural features such as a likely fault and relatively mineralized zones that might contain magnetic minerals of essential magnetite origin is revealed. It was also revealed that industrial estate Ogbomoso is averagely competent for engineering purpos

Heavy metals' data in soils for agricultural activities

In this article, the heavy metals in soils for agricultural activities were analyzed statistically. Ten(10)soil samples were randomly taken across the agricultural zones in Odo-Oba, southwestern Nigeria. Ten(10)metals; namely : copper(Cu), lead(Pb),chromium(Cr), arsenic(As), zinc(Zn), cadmium(Cd),nickel(Ni),antimony(Sb), cobalt(Co) and vanadium(V) were determined and compared with the guideline values.When the values were compared with the international standard,none of the heavy metals in the study area exceeded the threshold limit.However,the maximum range of the samples showed that Cr and V exceeded the permissible limit which could be associated with ecological risk.The data can reveal the distributions of heavy metals in the agricultural top soil of Odo-Oba, and can be used to estimate the risks associated with the consumption of crops grown on such soils

Medicinal plants used in the management of diabetes mellitus 2015

Diabetes mellitus is one of the common endocrine disorders prevalent in almost all of the countries. This chronic pathology is characterized by hyperglycemia caused by defective insulin action, insulin secretion, or the combination of both. Prolonged persistence of elevated blood glucose level consequently caused a series of complications such as nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiomyopathy. Currently available synthetic drugs for treating this disease are found to be associated with many adverse effects. The use of plants in medicine is an age-long practice in various parts of the globe for both preventive and curative purposes. Several warnings have been issued over lack of quality control, scientific evidence for the efficacy, and potential adverse effects of herbal remedies including hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity among others. Despite all of these, reliance on herbs as medicine for the management of diabetes mellitus is still much practiced by a large proportion of the world population because they are readily available and affordable with perceived reduced toxicity. Therefore, with the upsurge of interests in medicinal plants, there is a need for thorough scientific investigations of these plants for both efficacy and potential toxicity. In this issue, we present some recent advances in the use of medicinal plants for treating diabetes mellitus. B. Pang et al. (“Innovative Thoughts of Treating Diabetes from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine”)presented a review article on the contribution of traditional Chinese medicine to the development of alternative and complementary medicine for the treatment and prevention of diabetes mellitus. In another paper (“Effect of Rhizoma Coptidis (Huang Lian) on Treating Diabetes Mellitus”), B. Pang et al. discussed the efficacy and safety of Rhizoma Coptidis in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. In another study (“Evaluation of the Effects of Cornus mas L. Fruit Extract on Glycemic Control and Insulin Level in Type 2 Diabetic Adult Patients: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial”), R. Soltani et al. reported the results of a clinical trial on the effect of Cornus mas L. fruit extract on hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetic patients. In addition, W. Liu et al. (“The Effects of Chinese Medicine on Activation of Wnt/β-Catenin Signal Pathway under High Glucose Condition”) present a valuable review on some compounds implicated in the regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway as a mechanism of action involved in the antihyperglycemic activity from Chinese medicine. Furthermore, A. O. T. Ashafa and M. I. Kazeem (“Toxicopathological Evaluation of Hydroethanol Extract of Dianthus basuticus in Wistar Rats”) reported on the effects of Dianthus basuticus (a Basotho plant with acclaimed antidiabetic activity) on some biochemical parameters and histology of Wistar rats. Finally, X.-J. Li et al. (“TCM Formula Xiaoyaosan Decoction Improves Depressive-Like Behaviors in Rats with Type 2 Diabetes”) evaluated the effect of traditional medicine formula, Xiaoyaosan, on the cognitive function of diabetic rats. After the first volume of this special issue that was published in 2014, we hope that this issue will present additional valuable information for scientists and clinicians

Geomagnetic Signature Pattern Of Industrial Layout Orile Igbon

Ground magnetic data at Industrial Layout Orile Igbon was analyzed with a view to determining the areas that are competent for the construction of factories and other related buildings (e.g. high-rise administrative buildings). The study area falls within latitude 080 13′ 59.22″ to 080 15′ 0″ North and longitude 0040 17′ 05.0″ to longitude 0040 19′ 01.1″ East of Southwestern Nigeria. The ground magnetic survey was carried out, the acquired data was processed and analyzed. The qualitative interpretation revealed features like faults, contact between two rocks and fracture zones. However, the quantitative interpretation gave the overburden thickness to the top of the magnetic basement rock as varied between 6.0 and 33.5 m. Interpretation of ground magnetic data revealed that Industrial Layout Orile Igbon comprise of zones underlain with thin as well as thick overburden. It is therefore advisable that people should not ignorantly built factories making use of heavy machines where there is thick overburden as it might lead to subsidence or total collapse in the future. This could occur when the vibration of these heavy machines is transferred to the subsurface which might lead to ground motion which later has effect on the factory’s foundatio

AN OVERVIEW OF MAGNETIC METHOD IN MINERAL EXPLORATION

In modern times, the economic strength of a nation, the standard of living and independence of her citizens depend on the nation's industrial strength and her economic buoyancy. These two parameters, that is, the nation's industrial strength and the buoyancy of the industries in each country, sometimes form the bases for classifying the countries as "developed" (e.g., America and Japan) or "developing" (e.g., Nigeria and Ghana) with every nation striving to achieve the former status. The availability of the raw materials needed by most industries is one of the primary factors for the establishment of the industries. The raw material needs of most industries occur sporadically in one form or the other inside the earth's crust and the search for them as been one of man's major concerns. This paper gives the literature report about the use of magnetic method in mineral exploration. Magnetic exploration also referred to as “potential field” exploration is used to give geoscientist an indirect way to “see” beneath the Earth’s surface by sensing physical properties of rocks (magnetization). Magnetic method exploration can help locate minerals. Potential field survey is relatively inexpensive and can quickly cover large areas of ground. The method is relatively cheap, non-invasive and non-destructive environmentally speaking

EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTING HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WITHOUT A GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY

Subsidence and building collapse has become immense globally which Nigeria is not exempted. Due to increase in the number of people living in urban area and increase in the value of land, high-rise buildings have become preferred choice for people. Some of the high-rise buildings in urban areas have become death traps for the people living within because of cracks, subsidence, transport of water from subsurface to the supporting walls of the building, and finally sudden collapse. People direct the blame on the contractor whenever there are tragic situations like that. Majority believes that the contractor must have used inferior building materials before there can be such situation. The truth is that subsurface is heterogeneous in nature, if proper geophysical survey is not carried out before the building construction starts, the constructed building especially high-rise building might stand the chance of falling into this tragic event. The aim of carrying out this research is to settle the dispute between a house owner along Oda Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria and his contractor. Vivid cracks were seen from a high-rise building after the construction works have finished which made the owner to believe that the contractor has used the inferior building materials for him. Eight Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) stations were occupied around the house in order to know the subsurface information of the study area. The maximum current electrode used was 300 m with the maximum Geometric Factor of 7069.58. Six VES curves showed H-type (i.e. 3-layer earth model) while the remaining two VES curves showed KH-type (i.e. 4-layer earth model). The overburden thickness information of the study area varied between 14.9 m and 39.6 m with an average value of 28.3 m. This overburden is relatively thick for a high-rise building without an artificial basement before the foundation is laid. The weathered layer isoresistivity varied between 102.8 m and 258 m with an average value of 160.4125 m. This was done in order to know the characteristics of weathered layer in the study area, whether it will permit the transport of water from subsurface to the supporting walls of the building or not. The result showed that the apparent resistivities of the weathered layer’s value constitute little and medium weathering processes with poor potential for groundwater. Therefore, water cannot be transported from the subsurface to the supporting walls of the building. The contractor has his blame because geophysicist should have been invited for geophysical survey before the construction works started. Finally, it was recommended that mega activities like party, playing of heavy acoustic music, manual pounding of yams within the building, use of heavily vibrated machines should be avoided in the building

Groundwater Prospect in a Typical Precambrian Basement Complex using Karous-Hjelt and Fraser Filtering Techniques

Electromagnetic survey was carried out at Ibodi, village, Ilesa in Atakunmosa West Local government area with a view to determining the probable locations for groundwater exploration in the study area. Ibodi falls within latitude 70 35′ 35.21″ North and longitude 40 40′ 48.28″ East. The development and increase in immigrants at Ibodi has necessitated this study. A total of five profiles from North to South directions were occupied. It was discovered that distances (100.0-140.0) m, 40.0 m, 80.0 m and 35.0 m on profiles 1, 3, 4 and 5 respectively revealed fractured zones which are suspected to be the best locations for groundwater prospects in the study area