The Bambouto massif or Bamboutos Mountains is a group of volcanoes based on a swell in the Cameroon Volcanic Line, located in the

Western High Plateau The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, merging in the north with the Oku Volcanic Field.

Geology

The large volcanic complex extends in a NE-SW direction for over 50 km, with the highest peaks rising to 2,679 m around the rim of a caldera with diameter 10 km. Lava dating gives ages from 23 to 6 million years ago, with a lower

basaltic Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron ( mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% ...

series and an upper series of

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava (or shallow intrus ...

s, trachyphonolites and

phonolite Phonolite is an uncommon shallow intrusive or extrusive rock, of intermediate chemical composition between felsic and mafic, with texture ranging from aphanitic (fine-grained) to porphyritic (mixed fine- and coarse-grained). Phonolite is a var ...

Environment

The upper part of the massif above 2,000 m has a cool and cloudy climate with 2,510 mm of rainfall annually. Soils are acidic, low in phosphates and relatively infertile. Due to population pressure, farming is carried out on the steep slopes, leading to erosion and further loss of fertility. Cattle are also grazed on the upper slopes where foodcrop cultivation is uneconomical.

References

{{coord, 5, 40, 00, N, 10, 03, 00, E, display=title Volcanoes of Cameroon