An Open Investigation of Some Soil Pipes Forming Soil Subsidence at Awka South Local Government Area Using Very Low Frequency Electromagnetic Geophysical Technique

Chibuogwu I.U.¹ , Ugwu G.Z.²

1. Physics and Industrial Physics/Physical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
2. Dept. of Industrial Physics/Natural Sciences, Enugu State University for Science and Technology.

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.9 , Issue.2 , pp.40-45, Feb-2023

Online published on Feb 28, 2023

Copyright © Chibuogwu I.U., Ugwu G.Z. . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
One of the major causes of soil subsidence is soil piping, which general begins as a tiny hole called the flute hole in the ground but can grow extremely large if not monitored and controlled. The negative environmental consequences of Soil subsidence have been reported in various part of Anambra state, Nigeria. As a result of this, there is a need to examine some parts of the state where these soil pipes are prevalent. Hence, this study will attempt to investigate soil pipes located inside a soil subsidence at two locations in Awka South local government Area in Anambra state: Awka site I and Awka site II with geographic location “6.22320N and 7.08240E” and “6.22200N and 7.08190E” respectively using the Very Low Frequency Electromagnetic (VLF-EM) geophysical technique. A total of four profiles were surveyed, two at each of the study areas, with a traverse length of 100m and spacing of 5m. The result obtained shows that the study areas have developed a void like vertical structure of about 2m and 0.5m in depth from the top of the profile. A low conductivity (0.01 -0.5S/m) was obtained in the Karous-Hjelt filtering, which coincides to a maximum negative responds of the Fraser Filtering inside the soil subsidence structure for each of the sites while profiles that are far from the piping structures do not indicate any form of cavity or low conductivity.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Soil piping, soil subsidence, void, very low frequency electromagnetism, Geophysical survey.

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