Warta Geologi, Vol. 51, No. 3, December 2025, pp. 170-183
Olaleye Ifeoluwa M.1,*, Ige Olusegun O.1,2, Oyinloye Oluwashina L.1
1 Department of Geology and Mineral Sciences, University of Ilorin, P.M.B.1515, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
2 Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, 31 Shetima Ali Mungono Cres, Utako, Abuja 900108, Nigeria
*Corresponding author email address: olaleye.im@unilorin.edu.ng
Abstract: The aim of this research is to identify groundwater potential zones in specific parts of Birnin Gwari utilizing geospatial (Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems) data in order to help alleviate the water scarcity problem of the area. Seven (7) parameters were considered: geology, drainage, lineament, rainfall, land use/land cover, slope, and soil. Thematic maps of these characteristics were created, and weightages were assigned based on pairwise comparisons of the elements that appear to be crucial in groundwater potential for this study. Rainfall and lineament density were identified as the most significant contributors, accounting for 36.0% and 16.4% respectively. Five Groundwater Potential Zones (GWPZ) were found as very low, low, medium, high, and very high, corresponding to 0.22%, 23.10%, 60.75%, 15.83%, and 0.10% respectively. The consistency ratio was calculated to be 0.06 which is below the acceptable threshold of <0.1. According to the findings of the study, the south and south-western parts of the study region have very high to average groundwater potential, whereas the north and north-eastern parts have low to very low groundwater potential. The centre region is characterized by average groundwater potential. To validate the accuracy of the delineated groundwater potential zones, Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) from 30 locations across the study area were used to generate curves type, and the transmissivity of the aquifer was calculated. Based on the transmissivity ratings, 83.3% of the VES points show good accumulation potential while 16.7% show intermediate accumulation potential. The overall result indicated that the remote sensing and GIS techniques provide a reasonable framework for groundwater exploration. It is recommended that surface water development should be carried out in places with limited potential.
Keywords: Drainage, geology, groundwater, potential, remote sensing
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Manuscript received 15 May 2025;
Received in revised form 23 July 2025;
Accepted 2 September 2025
Available online 30 December 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7186/wg513202502
0126-5539; 2682-7549 / Published by the Geological Society of Malaysia.
© 2025 by the Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License 4.0
