'Hiroshima University - Department of Mathematics'
Abstract
The Mt. Cameroon is a large volcanic horst belonging to the majure tectonic line (Cameroon volcanic line). The geographical morphology of the mountain is controlled by regional tectonics. The Mt. Cameroon is consisted of precambrian metamorphic basement covered with Cretaceous to recent sediments distributed mainly in the Douala and Riodel Rey basin. The oldest lava could be of upper Miocene age. The Mt. Cameroon has erupted six times in the 20th century. The 1982 eruption took place inside the crater of an ancient cone.
The lavas are picrites (with forsteritic olivine phenocrysts), alkali basalts (with salitic augite phenocrysts), hawaiites (with labrador-bytownite plagioclase phenocrysts) and mugearites (with scarce kaersutite phenocrysts and microlitic phlogopite or nosean). According to Deruelle et al.(1987), the Mt. Cameroon lava series is typically alkaline with no tholeiitic or transitional trend.
Risk related to volcanism is actual for the human constructions especially along the axis of the horst. The severe volcanic risk has been limited to explosion, lava flows and lahar. It is possibility that explosion, laver flow and earthquarke take place anywhere on the volcanic mountain. Nevertheless, these explosions are most likely to occur in the delimited sector which is shown in a map presented in this paper.
Even if we could divert the course of the lava flows to certain safer direction, flows caused by sudden earthquarke and explosion may cause serious damages
