From Freepedia
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Prominence:
<td style="border-top:1px solid #999966" width=220>3,961 m (12,995 ft)
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Coordinates:
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4°12′ N 9°11′ E
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Type:
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stratovolcano
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Age of rock:
<td style="border-top:1px solid #999966" width=220>? yr
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Last eruption:
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2000
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First ascent:
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1861 by Sir
Richard Francis Burton
<tr><td style="border-top:1px solid #999966; border-right:1px solid #999966" bgcolor=#e7dcc3 width=85>Easiest
route:
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scramble
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Mount Cameroon (also known as
Cameroon Mountain or
Fako) is an active
volcano in
Cameroon, near the
Gulf of Guinea and is part of a general area of volcanic activity the
Cameroon Volcanic Line, which also includes
Lake Nyos, the site of the
1986 Lake Nyos tragedy. The volcano last erupted on
March 28,
1999 and
May 28,
2000.
Mt. Cameroon, one of
Africa's largest volcanoes, rises to 4095 m above the coast of west
Cameroon. 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 1400 cu km volcano, occur on the flanks and surrounding lowlands. A large satellitic peak, Etinde (also known as
Little Cameroon), is located on the southern flank near the coast. Historical activity, the most frequent of west
African volcanoes, was first observed in the 5th century BC by the Carthaginian navigator
Hannon. During historical time, moderate explosive and effusive eruptions have occurred from both summit and flank vents. A
1922 SW-flank eruption produced a lava flow that reached the
Atlantic coast, and a lava flow from a
1999 south-flank eruption stopped only 200 m from the sea.
The peak can be reached by
hikers, while the annual
Mount Cameroon Race 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.
Sources
- Siebert, L. and T. Simkin (2002-). Volcanoes of the World: an Illustrated Catalog of Holocene Volcanoes and their Eruptions. Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program Digital Information Series, GVP-3. URL: http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/
External links
