Recent studies have revealed that groundwater contamination is dependent on the porosity and permeability of the overlying and underlying bed rocks and the mineral composition of the aquifer geometry with respect to depth. This study became important due to several reports on groundwater contamination and in order to understand the mineral composition and the grain sizes of the aquifer in the study areas. Two boreholes were drilled 4.2km apart; one at Okabere and the other at Evbuabogun community both in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. The communities have been merged with the capital city as a result of urbanization and population growth. Grain size and heavy mineral analyses were carried out on the soil samples collected from the boreholes at an interval of 15ft. The results obtained indicate that the heavy minerals in Okabere borehole is dominated by Zircon, Tourmaline, Rutile, Biotite and Garnet while Evbuababegun borehole is mainly of Zircon, Kyanite, Rutile, Staurolite, Garnet and Tourmaline which indicate that the sediments were of igneous and metamorphic origin. Grain size analysis of both wells show that mean, inclusive standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis generally indicates very coarse sand to medium sand; very well sorted to moderately sorted and very platykurtic in nature. The foregoing revealed that the aquifer geometry of the study areas is unconfined and vulnerable to contamination. It is recommended that groundwater quality assessment study should be carried out in order to determine the potability of the groundwater bodies.

Thirty eight (38) soil samples taken from locations accessible to the BeninOluku -Ifon -Uzebba -Afuze -Auchi -Ukpilla -Okene highway, covering a distance of approximately 185 kilometres and an area of about 12,000 square kilometers were subjected to chemical and mineralogical analyses with a view to determining the variability of their fertility status within the rainforest and savannah vegetational zones. Results show that the soils of the area consist predominantly of quartz, kaolinite, feldspar and sesquioxides of aluminium and iron, including goethite. They are generally acidic with very low cation retention and buffering capacities. Higher concentrations of the major oxides MgO, CaO and K 2 O were recorded in soils of the savannah zone while the soils of the rainforest zone are relatively deficient in these oxides. A chemical productivity index (CPI) of MgO + CaO + K 2 O/Al 2 O 3 is proposed for the soils of the area of study. @ JASEM http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jasem.v17i3.6

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