GeologyofOgoniland

People who are familiar with Ogoniland, Rivers State, know that it harbours oil pollution. The
significanceoftheEnvironmentalAssessmentofOgonilandandthereasontheFederalGovernment
of Nigeria requested the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to conduct it is that it
providesthescientificevidenceonthenature,extentandimpactsofoilcontaminationinOgoniland.
Thisscientificdetailincludesthetypesofpollutingsubstances,theirquantitiesindifferentlocations
andthegeologyofOgonilandandhowitaffectsthemigrationorspreadofoilcontamination.
The geological profile ofOgoniland, including the depth andquality of groundwater, is a key factor
whenassessingcontaminatedsites.Thesoiltypeandsizeofthesoilgrainsandtheirdistributionare
crucial to the mobility of crude oil in soils and to the groundwater conditions that determine the
spreadofacontaminationplumewhichcanresultwhenhydrocarbonsarereleasedinwater.

Contaminationfootprint

The diagram shows how the study set out to identify the geographical extent of hydrocarbon
migrationaroundanoilspillsite,inthiscaseonland.Whenoilisspilledonthelandfromapipeline
oroilwell,itwillgenerallyrundownthenaturalslope,evaporateorpercolateintotheground.
Animportantobservationinthe
UNEP report is that because
Ogoniland has high rainfall, any
delay in cleaning up an oil spill
leadstooilbeingwashedaway,
traversing farmland and almost
alwaysendingupinthecreeks.
Inthisway,contaminationfrom
thelandwillcontinuetomigrate
towards the creeks. This has
implicationsforthesequenceof
remediationtobecarriedout.
Due to the dynamic nature of
the environment there is a risk
of the pollution footprint
spreadingfurther.Accordingto
the report, the cleanup of
Ogoniland should therefore
commencewithminimumdelay.


Soil

ThesoilstructureofOgonilandhasamajorbearingontheextenttowhichpollutioncanpenetrate
belowgroundandmigratedownwards.Itwasassumedinthepastthattherewasalayerofclayin
Ogonilandwhichprotectedcommunitydrinkingwaterfromoilpollution.Therefore,theoilcleanup
approachinOgonilandwastotargetthesurfacelayersonly.
However, based on the data from 780 boreholes gathered as part of UNEPs assessment, the soil
propertiesinOgonilandcanbedescribedwell.Themainobservationisthatthereisnocontinuous
claylayeracrossOgonilandandhydrocarbonsspilledonthesurfacecaneasilymovedownwards.
In49cases,UNEPobservedhydrocarbonsinsoilatdepthsofatleast5metres.Thisfindinghasmajor
implicationsforthetypeofremediationrequired.

Groundwater

Theregionspopulationdependsonaquifersbelowgroundfortheirdrinkingwater.Theprotection
of this groundwater supply is therefore vital. The geological profile of Ogoniland indicates there is
only one aquifer, which is being tapped by both shallow wells and deeper boreholes. Ogoni
communitiestypicallyconstructopen,handdugwellsandthenwithdrawthewatereithermanually
orwithpumps.
UNEPdrilled180groundwatermonitoringwellsinOgonilandaspartoftheassessmentprocess.The
shallowestobservedwaterlevelwas0.7metresbelowgroundlevelwhilethedeepestwas14metres
belowtheground.
ThereporthasfoundthattheOgonicommunitysdrinkingwatersourcescanbeexposedtopollution
fromhydrocarbonsspilledonthesurface.Hydrocarbonswerefoundindrinkingwatersampledfrom
28wellsin10communitiesadjacenttocontaminatedsites.Localcommunitiessaidtheyareawareof
thepollutionbutcontinuetousethewaterastheyhavenoalternative.
Insomeofthecontaminatedlocations,communitiesdrilldeeperwells,evenupto50metresdeep,in
searchofcleanwater.However,theUNEPassessmentfoundthatthisapproachisnotalongterm
solutionastheactofdrillingdeepercaninadvertentlycausethecontaminationtospreadvertically,
faster.

Moreinformation
TheEnvironmentalAssessmentofOgonilandreportisavailableat:www.unep.org/nigeria

August2011