Hazards from Pyroclastic Density Currents at Mount Bamenda (West-Cameroon, Cameroon Volcanic Line): Mapping and Assessment by AMS Method

Abstract

Hazards related to pyroclastic density current continue to raise victims on many volcanoes in our planet. The Cameroon is not spared to this type of hazard because deposits of pyroclastic flows and surges are found on Mount Bamenda; products of this volcano are relatively young (27-0 Ma). Besides Mount Bamenda, Mounts Bambouto and Oku are the only volcanoes located in the central part of the Cameroon Volcanic Line where these ignimbritic deposits are found. Several factors highlight dangerousness and damage that can cause ignimbritic flows on the flanks of this volcano. This is essentially the high aspect ratio of these ignimbrites, the important population (about 750,000 people) that lives on the slopes and around the volcano. In order to have an idea of a nowadays ignimbritic eruption scenario on Bamenda volcano, the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (ASM) method is used in this study to highlight the palaeoflow in ancient deposits of ignimbrites which are mostly discontinuous and isotropic. Results of AMS study are used to produce map of hazards and assess risks that may be related with such eruptions in Bamenda volcano.