Susceptibility Zonation of the Soils of Mayo-Danay in East Part of the Sudano-Sahelian Cameroon, Central Africa

Abstract

The study of soil resources of Mayo-Danay, located in the tropical zone of Cameroon, shows a diversity of soils characterized by specific properties. Indeed, this study area is generally a plain landscape whose average relative altitude (300 m). However, it indicates a vegetation of savanna type, very dominant. Hydrologically, Logone River, Maga Lake and tributary streams of the Mandara Mountains regularly flood the study area. The sharing of these parameters leads to soil’s genesis, which have a sandy texture for floodplain soils and a very dominant clay texture for lacustrine soils. Otherwise, the geochemistry of these soils shows SiO2 contents globally 70% in the different soils studied; Al2O3 contents are less than 10% in lacustrine soils and less than 5% in floodplain soils; while the major elements data of soils such as Fe2O3, CaO and MgO indicate relatively low contents (≤2%) on soils studied. In addition, the mineralogy index of alteration expresses a moderate alteration of these soils. Thus, the distribution of these major elements of soil reveals its susceptibility to zonation, which is a consequence of intrinsic and extrinsic parameters to formation and differentiation of soils of the study area.