Abstract

Groundwater componentis animportant contributor to total runoff within the Basement Complex rocksin Nigeria despite the dominance of regolithaquifer in the region This paper examines the response of groundwater to basin variables in the Upper Kaduna Catchment Nigeria Data used in this study consists of hydro meteorological geological and land usedata The hydrometeorological data were obtained from the Hydro Meteorological Department of The Kaduna State Water Board Kaduna Nigeria while morphometric land use and geological data were obtained from maps Groundwater components were derived using semi -logarithmichydrographic analysis A total of 220 hydrographs were separated and 30 basin variables were also derived using various morphometric methods Both descriptive and inferential methods were used in interpreting the data generated The descriptive analyses include mean standard deviation and graphs The inferential methods used in this study are moment product correlation factor analysis multiple regression and stepwise regression methods Moment product correction was used to associate groundwater component and basin parameters factor analysis was used to reduce the 30 basin variables into orthogonal factors multiple regression was used to establish a relationship with basin variable and groundwater components while stepwise regression was used to also establish a relationship and to also reduce the regression model to an orthogonal size The 30 basin variables were reduced by factor analysis into 8 orthogonal variables namely length of mainstream total rainfall younger granite leminiscate ratio savanna scrubland forest basin scale and fadama which altogether explained 84 3 of the variance The results of the multiple regression showed that these 8 factors explained 86 0 of the groundwater pattern in the Upper KadunaCatchment The result of the stepwise regression further showed that only 3 factors namely total