Mount Cameroon

Mount Cameroon

Craters left after the eruptions in 2000
Elevation 4,040 m (13,250 ft)[1]
Prominence 3,901 m (12,799 ft)[2]
Ranked 31st
Listing Country high point
Ultra
Location
Mount Cameroon

Cameroon

Location Southwest Province, Cameroon
Coordinates 4°13′00″N 9°10′21″E / 4.21667°N 9.17250°ECoordinates: 4°13′00″N 9°10′21″E / 4.21667°N 9.17250°E
Geology
Type Stratovolcano
Last eruption May to September 2000
Climbing
First ascent Joseph Merrick, 1840s[3]
Easiest route Scramble

Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in Cameroon near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako (the name of the higher of its two peaks) or by its native name Mongo ma Ndemi ("Mountain of Greatness"). It is the highest point in sub-Saharan western and central Africa,[4] the fourth most prominent peak in Africa and the 31st most prominent in the world.

The mountain is part of the area of volcanic activity known as the Cameroon Volcanic Line, which also includes Lake Nyos, the site of a disaster in 1986. The most recent eruption occurred on February 3, 2012.

Description

Mount Cameroon is one of Africa's largest volcanoes, rising to 4,040 metres (13,255 ft) above the coast of west Cameroon. It rises from the coast through tropical rainforest to a bare summit which is cold, windy, and occasionally brushed with snow. The massive steep-sided volcano of dominantly basaltic-to-trachybasaltic composition forms a volcanic horst constructed above a basement of Precambrian metamorphic rocks covered with Cretaceous to Quaternary sediments. More than 100 small cinder cones, often fissure-controlled parallel to the long axis of the massive 1,400-cubic-kilometre (336 cu mi) volcano, occur on the flanks and surrounding lowlands. A large satellitic peak, Etinde (also known as Little Mount Cameroon), is located on the southern flank near the coast. Mount Cameroon has the most frequent eruptions of any West African volcano. The first written account of volcanic activity could be the one from the Carthaginian Hanno the Navigator, who might have observed the mountain in the 5th century BC. Moderate explosive and effusive eruptions have occurred throughout history from both summit and flank vents. A 1922 eruption on the southwestern flank produced a lava flow that reached the Atlantic coast, and a lava flow from a 1999 south-flank eruption stopped only 200 m (660 ft) from the sea, cutting the coastal highway.

The peak can be reached by hikers, while the annual Mount Cameroon Race of Hope scales the peak in around 4½ hours.

English explorer Mary Kingsley, one of the first Europeans to scale the mountain, recounts her expedition in her 1897 memoir Travels in West Africa.

Ecology

Impatiens etindensis[5] and I. grandisepala[6] are plant species known only from Mount Cameroon. There are no trees in this area.

Gallery

A view of Little Mount Cameroon from the road of Limbe. 
A lava flow of Mount Cameroon (1999) 
This Sign is no longer at the top 
View from Limbe to Mt. Cameroon (Fako) and Mt. Etinde [M] 

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A higher elevation of 4,095 m (13,435 ft) is often given, but this is not compatible with SRTM data, which shows no 3" cells higher than 4,027 m (13,212 ft) or 1" cells higher than 4,029 m (13,219 ft). A GPS reading of 13,200±50 feet (4024±16 m) has been reported. The elevation is subject to change due to volcanic activity.
  2. ↑ "Mont Cameroun, Cameroon" Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  3. ↑ DeLancey and DeLancey 174. The authors do not give a precise year, but Merrick was active in Cameroon from 1844 to 1849.
  4. ↑ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/90979/Mount-Cameroon
  5. ↑ Cheek, M. and S. Cable. 2000. Impatiens etindensis. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. Downloaded on 03 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Cheek, M. and S. Cable. 2000. Impatiens grandisepala. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. Downloaded on 03 July 2013.

References

External links