Evaluation of Geothermal Energy Potential of Parts of Upper Benue Trough Nigeria Using High Resolution Aeromagnetic Data

Johnson U Abangwu; Francisca N Okeke; Daniel N Obiora

doi:10.17485/IJST/v16i42.2201

Article

Evaluation of Geothermal Energy Potential of Parts of Upper Benue Trough Nigeria Using High Resolution Aeromagnetic Data

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Indian Journal of Science and Technology

DOI: 10.17485/IJST/v16i42.2201

Year: 2023, Volume: 16, Issue: 42, Pages: 3735-3742

Original Article

Evaluation of Geothermal Energy Potential of Parts of Upper Benue Trough Nigeria Using High Resolution Aeromagnetic Data

Johnson U Abangwu^1*, Francisca N Okeke¹, Daniel N Obiora¹

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author
Email: [email protected]

Received Date:29 August 2023, Accepted Date:28 September 2023, Published Date:12 November 2023

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Objective: To conduct geophysical evaluation in Yuli, Futuk, Kaltungo, Guyok, Shellen, Bashar, Muri, Lau, Dong and Numan area Upper Benue Trough, Nigeria to ascertain the region's geothermal energy potential for electricity generation. Methods: Radial average power spectrum method was employed in this research work. The residual upward continued data was divided into twenty-seven (27) overlapping spectral block using the filtering feature of the Oasis montaj program. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) MAGMAP technique of oasis montaj program transformed the data into radial average power spectrum for each block. Findings: The estimated Curie point depth ranges from 10.131 to 16.461 , the geothermal gradient ranges from 35.235 to 57.250 having a mean value of 45.214 °C/km while the heat flow ranges from 88.087 to 143.125 . These results shows that the research area has good potential for geothermal energy generation especially the Dong area with the highest geothermal gradient value of 57.250 . Novelty: This research has successfully employed radial average power spectrum method to depict viable zones of geothermal energy potential in Upper Benue Trough, Nigeria for electricity generation.

Keywords: Upper Benue, Curie Point Depth, Geothermal, Heat flow, Electricity generation

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Copyright

© 2023 Abangwu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Published By Indian Society for Education and Environment (iSee)