Relief and Drainage

Relief and Drainage

By King James Nkum

It is not for nothing that Taraba State is known Natures Gift to the Nation. The relief and drainage of this paradise is indeed of a unique nature. Lying largely within the middle belt region of Nigeria, it consists of undulating landscape dotted with a few mountainous features. These include the scenic and prominent Mambilla Plateau. It is worthy of note to mention here that Taraba State constitutes a fundamental part of the physiographic regions of Nigeria by virtue of her relief features, which falls midway between the eastern and northeastern highlands. The Mandara highlands of the Mambilla Plateau is located on the far east of the country, along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. It is underlain by the basement complex of massive granite formation. (The other two uplands within the Niger-Benue trough are the north central plateau and the western uplands).

The highlands of the Mambilla Plateau at the Nigeria-Cameroonian border are located east of the Benue valley as mountain ranges toward the north of the Mandara Mountains and south into the Adamawa highlands. The entire border, covering almost 1,200 kilometres, constitutes a fragile physiographic region containing crater lakes of volcanic origin. Some of these crater lakes composed of thermal or heated springs and gas are now under threat of collapse and therefore, posing imminent danger to the inhabitants of the area. This calls for urgent trans-border cooperation between the Nigerian government and her Cameroonian counterpart with a view t finding lasting solution to the menace.

In addition, the region is heavily dissected by swift-flowing rivers emanating from the area and emptying into the Benue and Cross rivers (in Benue and Cross River states respectively). These isolated highlands drained by swift-flowing streams and rivers, show strong resistance to denudation. Thus, they display very bold relief of dissected plateau with elevations of between 1,200 metres to 1,500 metres above sea level. The Adamawa highlands including the Alantika and Shebshi mountain ranges rise to between 1,800 and 2,400 metres. Further south are the Obudu Plateau and Oban hills which reach about 1,200 metres.

On a general note, the topography runs through three main regions of the state. The region west of the River Benue is predominantly occupied by fadama swamps of the flood plains located in Ibi and Karim Lamido, a sharp contrast to its eastern counterpart which is rather undulating lowland, juxtaposed by high rising hills. These intermittent hills which stand above the 350 metres contour are found in such areas like Fali, Bali and Kungana are developed on both sedimentary and crystalline rocks. The third topographical region is the Mambilla Plateau, a unique geographical area with some of the largest and highest mountains in Nigeria. Some of its peaks rise as high as over 2000 metres above sea level. Measuring about 100 kilometers along its curved length and 40 kilometers wide and bounded by an escarpment which is 900 meters high in some parts, the Mambilla Plateau developed on basement complex rocks. The undulating hilly surface of the plateau is uniquely breathtaking.