The Quaternary (< 3 Mya) Mount Cameroon (aka Mongo ma Ndemi or ‘Mountain of Greatness’) is one of those rare volcanoes in the world located at an oceanic-continental boundary along a passive tectonic margin. It is a large elliptical (50×35 km) #stratovolcano built upon a Precambrian gneissic basement covered by Cretaceous to Recent sediments. It is the tallest mountain in Cameroon at 4095 m, having an estimated volume of ~1,200 km3. It is also the highest point in sub-Saharan Western and Central Africa. About 300 small pyroclastic cones occur along the flanks of the main crater (lower left photo) reflecting a high degree of fracturing. Mount Cameroon is one of Africa’s largest and most active volcanoes, with eight major eruptions (effusive, explosive and hydromagmatic) recorded in the last century accompanied by high intensity seismic events and catastrophic landslides and lahars. It is part of the Cameroon Volcanic Chain (comment map). Cameroon is sandwiched between the West African Craton to the NW and the Congo Craton to the SW. Magmatism associated with the Cameroon Line is thought to have been triggered by reactivation of pre-existing fault zones in response to localized tensional stresses within the African plate, but volcanism associated with a failed Neogene rift, hot spot activity, and a leaky transform fault have also been proposed as origins for the volcanic chain. The aa-type lavas (high viscosity lava, thick and pasty) belong to a typical alkaline series of weakly differentiated #basanite and alkaline basalt, generally porphyritic, and characteristic of the interior of plates. Basanite is a basaltic lava characterized by calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar (usually labradorite or bytownite), feldspathoid (usually nepheline or leucite), clinopyroxene, and olivine. The mountain is surrounded by tropical rainforest, although it has a bare summit apart from occasional snow. Mount Cameroon has no trees on it directly, but it is the only place where Impatiens etindensis (comment photo)and Impatiens grandisepala, two flowering plant species are found. #Geology #nature #Cameroon
Evolution of Mount Cameroon volcanism: Geochemistry, mineral chemistry and radiogenic isotopes (Pb, Sr, Nd) Emmanuel Wenjeh Wembenyui, Kenneth D. Collerson, Jian-xin Zhao
The aa-type lava (high viscosity lava, thick and pasty) from Cameroon Volcano’s 1999 eruptions (Copyright Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff).
Your posts are superb, the supporting info…real content worth reading! Thanks Richard🙏
Lots of local CO2!
The major output is ash! Ash is glass, with a basaltic andesitic composition, and devitrifies to chlorite, the Fe++ clay. The basic building block for almost everything!
Visible from neighboring Equatorial Guinea. The chain of volcanoes trend south westward through the Atlantic Ocean and have volcanic island chain stretching through Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and eventually sea mounts.
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6moGeological map of the Cameroon Volcano (IUGS website, Wantim et al., 2013, modified): 1. Sediments; 2. Recent lavas; 3. Basalts (Old Lavas); 4. Pyroclastic cones; 5. Nephelinites; 6. Lahars; 7. Contour lines; 8. Major roads; 9. Settlements.