Cameroon GCE A-Level Geography cheat sheet

Cameroon GCE A-Level Geography: Core Reference

• Plate tectonics: the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) is a 1,600 km Y-shaped chain of Cenozoic volcanoes and plutonic complexes trending NE–SW from Lake Chad through Mount Cameroon to the Gulf of Guinea and Bioko; it is intraplate, linked to a hotspot or reactivated shear zone, not a simple plate margin.

• Mount Cameroon (4,095 m) is the highest peak in West/Central Africa and an active stratovolcano; eruptions in 1999, 2000 and 2012 produced lava flows and ash falls affecting Buea, Limbe and nearby plantations.

• Lake Nyos (1986) and Lake Monoun (1984) limnic eruptions released CO2 from crater lakes along the CVL, killing about 1,700 people at Nyos; the lakes lie in maar craters with magmatic CO2 seepage.

• Climate controls: Cameroon spans equatorial (Douala, ~2,500–4,000 mm/year, two rainy seasons), tropical humid, and Sudan-Sahel types; the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) migration drives the north's single rainy season and the south's double maximum.

• Relief and drainage: the Adamawa Plateau separates the southern forest lowlands from the northern savanna; the Sanaga, Nyong, Wouri and Benue systems drain south and west, with the Benue draining north-westward.

• Soils: ferralitic (lateritic) soils dominate the humid south - deeply weathered, leached, low base status; alluvial and volcanic soils (Mount Cameroon, Bamenda Highlands) are more fertile; Sahelian north has thin, crusting soils.

• Population: roughly 27–28 million; growth rate near 2.5%/year; urbanisation ~58%; Douala and Yaoundé together hold a large share of urban population; the north and Adamawa are sparsely populated.

• Vegetation belts from south to north: equatorial rainforest (Bakossi, Korup), semi-deciduous forest, Guinea savanna, Sudan savanna, and steppe near Lake Chad; montane forest and grassland occur above ~1,800 m.

• Environmental hazards and management: Mount Cameroon eruptions, Lake Nyos degassing pipes, landslides on the Bamenda and Adamawa escarpments, and coastal erosion at Limbe/Kribi; forest reserves (Korup, Dja) and the Waza and Benoue national parks are key conservation instruments.