VULCANISM IN CAMEROON

Location and Orientation of the CVL

Cameroon falls within a volcanic zone which is 1600km composed of a chain of active and extinct volcanoes. This zone is known as
the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL). The CVL is a stretch of volcanic mountains beginning from the Bioko Island, through the Mt Fako
region, continuing through the western highlands into the Adamawa Plateau. The line cuts across three relief regions of Cameroon
which include;

 The coastal lowlands (Bioko Island),

 The Western Highlands: the mountains found within this region include; Mt Fako, Mt Oku, Mt Bamboutous, Rumpi hills, Mt
Kupe, Mbam Mt, Tombel graben, Muanenguba massif, Nkonghan and Mbapit Mts.
 The Adamawa plateau: Mountains found here include; Mambila Mt, Gotel Mt, Mt Atlantika, Tchabal Mbabo, Tchabal
Ngangdaba, Tchabal Nganba and Mbang Mt.

The mountains along the CVL are orientated from the South West to the North East direction .

Formation or Origin of the CVL

Most of the volcanoes along the line are believed to have been formed as a result of the tearing and splitting of the African plate.
This is evident from the presence of a fault line. This explains why the volcanoes occur on a zone of fault lines that stretch from the
Atlantic ocean into the Adamawa plateau. The volcanoes occur due to the presence of a fault line that runs from the Gulf of Guinea
into the African plate, thus resulting in the development of intra-plate volcanoes along the stretch.

Characteristics of the CVL

 All volcanoes along the CVL are extinct except the Mt Cameroon which is presently the only active volcano.
 The line has about 60 intrusive volcanic massifs such as the Kupe, Mboutou, Kokoumi and Nigo massifs.
 It is mostly made up of strato volcanoes
 There are four main islands within the zone which include the Biolo, Annobon or Pagalu island, Sao Tome and Principe
islands.
  There are two main volcanic arcs along the line that is between Sao Tome and Principe and between Principe and Bioko.
 The continental portion of this volcanic line is made up of both plutonic and volcanic rocks and landmasses with varying
shapes and sizes.
 The major plateau is the Adamawa plateau found in the north eastern part.
 Most of the volcanoes or highlands found in the region serve as water sheds for example the Adamawa plateau is watershed
for rivers such as the Sanaga, Djerem, Vina, Mbere and Mbam while the River Manyu takes its rise from the Bamboutous
Mountain.

EARTHQUAKES

An earthquake or tremor refers to the sudden shaking or vibration of the earth which could be violent or mild. This shaking results
from the sudden release of energy, whenever there is the fracturing of rocks, thus generating seismic waves. Zones where
earthquakes occur are known as Seismic Zones. The shaking of the earth may result in the displacement of the ground on the earth’s
surface.

The structure of an earthquake

The point of origin of an earthquake is called the focus. It is often located within the mantle. The point at ground level or on the
earth’s surface directly above the focus is called the epicenter and the greatest damage occurs at the epicenter. The vibration of the
earth’s surface is caused by seismic waves which travel through the interior onto the earth’s surface. There are two types of waves,
which include: the body and surface waves. The body waves are seismic waves that travel through the crustal rocks from the focus.
Such waves are the first waves generated and they travel through the crust from the earth’s interior. There are two types of body
waves, which include the P-waves or Shock waves or Pressure waves and the S-waves.

The second type of waves is the Surface waves, there are two types surface waves, which include; the Love and Rayleigh waves.
These waves cause the rocks on the surface of the earth to shake and vibrate.

Causes of earthquakes

1. Tectonic activities
 Earthquakes are generally common at plate margins, that is at the edges of tectonic plates, but some originate in the
interior of plate margins and are called intra plate earthquakes. When the plates collide with, diverge or slide pass each
other, tensional and/or compression forces causes pressure to build up causing the rocks to crack and suddenly release
energy causing the surface rocks to vibrate. This explains why most earthquakes are common within the pacific ring of
fire zone.
2. Volcanic activities
The movement of molten magma within the mantle due to the generation of convection currents also builds up stress
within the crustal rocks, causing shock waves to be generated when they crack and make them to vibrate.
3. Other trivial causes of earthquakes include human induced causes such as road construction and mining, especially using
the drilling method or explosives.

Types of earthquakes

Earthquakes can be classified based on their magnitude, intensity, causes and the position of their focus.

Types based on magnitude

Magnitude refers to the amount of energy released or strength of the earthquake. Intensity refers to the degree of damage caused by the
earthquake. Based on magnitude, there are two types;

1. Low magnitude earthquakes: they are those that measure less than 5 on the Richter scale. They have low intensity or cause little
damage. For example the earthquake that occurred offshore of northern California on the 17th of July 2015 with a magnitude of 2.4, 2.8
and 3.0 respectively.
2. High magnitude earthquakes: these are earthquakes that measure above 5 on the Richter scale and have a high intensity i.e they cause
a lot of damage. For example the 2002 earthquake in southern Italy with magnitude of 5.4, the 16 th July 2015 Mindanao (Philippines)
earthquake with a scale of 5.3, the December 2004 Sumatra (Indonesia) earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1.

Types based on causes

Based on this category, there are two types of earthquakes which include; tectonic and volcanic earthquakes. Tectonic earthquakes are tremors
generated by the movement of plates while volcanic earthquakes are those produced by volcanic activities.
Types based on the position of the focus

1. Deep focus earthquakes: These are earthquakes whose point of origin or start point is found deep in the earth’s interior (above 300km
or 186 miles deep). They are very common at destructive margins, at the subduction zone.
2. Intermediate focus earthquakes: These are earthquakes that have their focus between 70km to 300km deep in the earth’s interior.
Such are common at convergent plate margins or at transform margins.
3. Shallow focus earthquakes: These are earthquakes that occur close to the surface at depths of less than 70km or 43 miles. Such
earthquakes often occur or are common at divergent plate margins, where plates move away from each other.

Measurement of Earthquakes

The study of earthquakes is called seismology and the devices used to measure earthquakes are called seismometers or seismographs. The
seismograph records the type and amplitude (wavelength) of seismic waves. There are two types of scales used in earthquake measurements.
They include the Richter scale which measures the magnitude of earthquakes and the Mercalli scale which measures the intensity of the
earthquake. The Richter scale ranges from 1 to 12 and each step up the scale means that an earthquake is 10 times more powerful than the
proceeding step. For example an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.0 is ten times more powerful than one with a magnitude of 2.0.

Earthquake hazards

In recent years, more than 1 million people worldwide have been killed by earthquake hazards and properties worth millions of dollars have
been destroyed. The intensity or degree of damage caused by an earthquake depends on;

 The distance from the epicenter

 The population density
 Nature of buildings
 Availability of pre-information
 Surface geology
 Stability of evacuation routes
 Time of the day

There are two types of damages caused by earthquakes

1. Primary damages
These are damages which result from ground vibrations. They are responsible for most of the damages during earthquakes. Some of the
damages include:
 Ground vibrations which cause building swaying and collapsing
 Fire outbreaks and explosions from pipelines and storage tanks
 Tsunami and flooding