Régimes des flux des matières solides en suspension au Cameroun: revue et synthèse à l’échelle des principaux écosystèmes; diversité climatique et actions anthropiques / Regimes of suspended sediment flux in Cameroon: review and synthesis for the main ecosystems; climatic diversity and anthropogenic activities

Abstract

Abstract Since the end of the 1950s, suspended matter measurements have been carried out in the streams and rivers of Cameroon. Despite the fact that these are often point measurements, they provide a framework for a global approach towards studying the regimes of suspended sediment transport in these rivers. The objective here is to assess the intensity of sediment transport and to determine the principal factors which influence it, according to the main climatic units. The influence of human activities is pointed out. It appears that steep slopes, population density, soil cultivation and cattle grazing are the essential factors. The sediment load in these rivers is increasing with latitude with 20–40 g m^-3 at the Equator, 80–100 g m^-3 in the transition zones and 150–160 g m^-3 in the dry tropical zones. The choice of drainage basin size for the characterisation of the rate of effective erosion is indispensable. In fact, in large drainage basins (5 × 10⁴ km²), there is an integration of heterogeneous geomorphological, phytogeographical, pedological and anthropogenic characteristics into average characteristics which do not show the influence of local conditions on sediment transport.