Effects of Termite Activities on Permeability Characteristics of Lateritic Soils in Ado-Ekiti, South Western, Nigeria

This research work evaluates the effects of termite activities on permeability characteristics of lateritic soils from two locations in Ado-Ekiti, South Western Nigeria. Six samples were taken from termite mound, that is, two each from top, bottom and where the queen of termite was found. Four other samples were taken from non-reworked surrounding soil. These samples were subjected to permeability tests using grain size distribution and falling head permeameter. The results showed that values of coefficient of permeability obtained using both parameters showed a slight agreement in trend for the two locations. Generally, the values are low but those obtained on soils reworked by termites were observed to be higher than the non-reworked surrounding soils. For instance, the values range from 4.90x10-5 ¬to 3.78x10-5 and 4.60x10-5 to 4.15x10-5 for non-reworked soils in locations 1 and 2 respectively, while for termite-reworked soils, slight increases were observed. It ranges from 7.29x10-5 to 6.10x10-5¬¬¬ and 6.95x10-5 to 4.53x10-5 for both locations 1 and 2 respectively. It therefore showed that there was a possible alteration of the permeability characteristics of the soil by the activities of the termite. Omoloye E. Abe | Adeyemi E. Adetoro"Effects of Termite Activities on Permeability Characteristics of Lateritic Soils in Ado-Ekiti, South Western, Nigeria" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-5 , August 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd15735.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/civil-engineering/15735/effects-of-termite-activities-on-permeability-characteristics-of-lateritic-soils-in-ado-ekiti-south-western-nigeria/omoloye-e-abe