Abstract: Remote sensing, geotechnical studies and geophysical data have been applied to determine the causes of the continuous pavement failure of the Minna – Suleja highway in a part of North-Central Nigeria. In this study, remotely sensed data in the form of Landsat 8 OLI and SRTM DEM were processed to extract structural lineaments and drainage pattern of the area. Geotechnical evaluation of soil samples such as grain size analyses, Compaction Test, Atterberg Limits and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) determination were also conducted. Geophysical data acquired were in the form of lateral resistivity profiling data at 500 m intervals and twenty-one Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) spread across the selected sections of the road. Lineament analysis revealed predominant NNE-SSW trending structures. A notable percentage of the Lineaments trend NW- SE. Both sets of lineaments constitute a conjugate fracture system. CBR values in both portions range from 5 – 15% in soaked condition and unsoaked condition at OMC. Plasticity index range from 14 – 30 and 19 – 45 in both portions. Quantitative interpretation of the VES results established the presence of mostly three geologic layers which are: Clayey top soil, sand/lateritic sand and weathered basement. Resistivity values range from 20 Ωm to 300 Ωm for the top soil layer. The depths of this layer were generally less than 3 m. Preponderance of intersections of lineaments along failed portions account for near surface fractures, making these zones weak. This can be linked to low resistivity of the near surface materials and shallowness of the water bearing zones especially on the failed portions on which the road pavement foundation was laid. A distinction could not be made on the results of the geotechnical properties in both the failed and stable portions of the road. Hence, failure factors are not linked to the geotechnical properties of the soils.Abstract: Remote sensing, geotechnical studies and geophysical data have been applied to determine the causes of the continuous pavement failure of the Minna – Suleja highway in a part of North-Central Nigeria. In this study, remotely sensed data in the form of Landsat 8 OLI and SRTM DEM were processed to extract structural lineaments and drainage pattern of...Show More
Abstract: India is one of the very few countries in the world endowed with substantial land and water resources. Being a country with predominantly monsoon climate, the rainfall is erratic, unevenly distributed in space, time and hence droughts in some parts/seasons and floods in some other parts/seasons frequently occur. Sometimes, both of them also occur simultaneously. In order to reduce the adverse impacts of floods and droughts, intra-basin surface/subsurface water management followed by inter-basin subsurface & surface water transfer is proposed to ensure water availability within the basin first, followed by transfer of basin excess water, preferably to the adjacent basin (s) within the region -having water storage capability during the regional floods, purely on a short term basis. In the present study, a sub-catchment of Subarnarekha Basin has been considered as the study area. This study focuses on the proposal of Intra-basin/Inter-basin subsurface/surface storage/transfer during a portion of the flood period. This is accomplished after creating some Intra-basin storage, by analyzing 13 years of daily discharge data -starting from 2004, for the Jamsholaghat Gauge-Discharge (G-D) site in the basin. Thus, all the four purposes -in their order of preference, viz., 1) moderation of basin flood peak; 2) creation of intra-basin surface/subsurface storage; 3) groundwater recharge and 4) short term mitigation of water scarcity in the neighboring basin (s), are expected to be achieved through this proposal.Abstract: India is one of the very few countries in the world endowed with substantial land and water resources. Being a country with predominantly monsoon climate, the rainfall is erratic, unevenly distributed in space, time and hence droughts in some parts/seasons and floods in some other parts/seasons frequently occur. Sometimes, both of them also occur s...Show More