Abstract
The area of the Bida basin is lacking in essential data for effective groundwater management. Hydrological studies using environmental isotopes (2H,3H,13C,18O) were carried out in the basin during the 1987–1988 hydrological year on samples of rainfall, streams, springs, and groundwater. The results obtained results do not indicate the presence of paleowaters; rather all groundwaters in the basin are found to be of meteoric origin as bothδD andδ 18O values of the samples, plotted in the conventional way, align with the meteoric water line (MWL). Moreover, these data show the deeper, and apparently older, groundwater to be more depleted in the heavy stable isotopes than the shallower, relatively younger groundwaters, indicating recharge under cooler climatic conditions for the former. Measured tritium values range from 0.7 to 23.8 TU and show a variation with both depth and lithology, while at the same time indicating that active recent recharge is taking place basin-wide. The few13C data available were used to illustrate the effect of pumping on the carbonate geochemistry of the groundwaters. Also, the stable isotope data from the basin were compared with similar data from other parts of the country to show the continental effect.
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Kehinde, M.O. Preliminary isotopic studies in the Bida basin, central Nigeria. Geo 22, 212–217 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00767406
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00767406