Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International

Transportation infrastructure has become one of the key development factors in urban centers of sub-Saharan Africa. However, a nuanced understanding of the links between the state of urban transport structures and the mutations in urban populations exist. We contribute to clarify this nuance, by using a case study of Bamenda – a primate city par excellence. Bamenda provides an interesting case study because of its centrality and it rapidly growing population. Using a semi-structured interview guide, we randomly surveyed 400 household heads within the urban hub of Bamenda. This data was complemented with key informant and expert interviews to target stakeholders. Multiple Linear Regression analysis (at 0.05 levels of significance) led us to the following conclusions: location choice was influenced by a combination of transport structures, commercialization, land affordability, labour and educational factors, and where transportation factors are prioritized over other factors in location selection and spatial population concentration in Bamenda. The study findings contribute to edify urban development planning, with regards to unbundling the links between transport infrastructure and the dynamics of urban population. Further empirical evidence is required to ground this assertion.

Water from ten hand-dug wells from Assin North Municipality in Ghana were analysed at Ghana Water Company Limited Quality Assurance Laboratory, Ho in Ghana for various physico-chemical parameters. The analyses used standard methods with chemicals of AR grade; pH was measured with the Horiba Compact B-122 and Inolab 7300 Conductivity/TDS portable meter. Colour, turbidity, aluminium, copper, sulphate and total iron were analysed by spectrophotometry using Hach DR/2500 following standard methods. Flame photometer was used for determination of metal ions Na⁺, K⁺ and Ca²⁺. Silver nitrate method was used to estimate chloride, sulphate was determined by turbidimetric method. Total hardness was calculated by complexometric titration using EDTA. The results of the analyses show pH 6.0 to 7.2 with a mean of 6.5, conductivity from 300 to 800 μS/cm, TDS range from 90 to 400 mg/l. Piper Trilinear diagram revealed three main water types - calcium bicarbonate (Ca+Mg-HCO₃) possibly sourced from Ca-plagioclase, biotite and amphibole; sodium chloride (Na-Cl) from Na-plagioclase, muscovite and chlorite; and mixed water types which may be due to the combined effect of Birimian metasedimentary rocks, Belt granitoid and pegmatites that released into the water through cation exchange and accounted for Na+ in the Na-Cl water type. Chloride in a few hand-dug wells may be linked to mineralogy crystallised from marine deposited sediments and infiltration of rainwater along fractures in the rocks. Hence most of the water samples have Na/Cl ratios<0.86. The rainwater in the area with weak acidity possibly infiltrated into the soil to cause appreciable concentration of HCO3- in the studied water. The total coliform values in water were less harmful as there was no faecal coliforms, though total microbial values in hand-dug wells X4 and X10 with total coliform values of 2.2 and 5.1 MPN/100ml respectively exceed the WHO guidelines. Hand-dug wells X4 and X6 in the study probably ended in aquifers in the weathered zone with the rest of the wells in fresh fractured horizons of the granitoids. Na/Cl ratios>1 (for water samples X1, X7 and X8) might have been due to contamination from anthropogenic sources. Pearson correlation indicates strong and positive correlation of TDS<Mg< Na with conductivity. All the water samples were safe for human consumption.

This study examined residents’ resentment of neighborhood choice in Port Harcourt municipality, Nigeria. The study utilized both secondary and primary data sources. Primary data were collected using face-to-face administration of a largely pre-coded household questionnaire, to a probability sample of 396 respondents, drawn from the neighbourhoods. Data analysis was based on responses from 193 questionnaires retrieved and the univariate analytical method was adopted. The study found that large percentage of residents reported a negative rating of neighbourhood choice indicators such as waste collection and disposal, safety of lives and property, fire stations, cleanliness of the neighbourhood, residential planning, and government provision of housing for the poor, hospitals/clinics, recreational areas, maintenance of streets, aesthetic condition, noise level and the neighbourhood condition. Residents rated markets adequate and fire hazards low. The study concluded that majority of the residents rated neighbourhood quality indicators inadequate. The study recommended that government should intervene in these areas to improve the neighbourhood quality to achieve sustainability.

This paper asserts the case for developing the ecotourism potential in Afikpo, Ebonyi state. The main aim of the study is to assess the ecotourism potentials in Afikpo with a view to recommending means to enhance these potentials for development. The following objectives were underpinned (i) To examine the nature of tourism sites in Afikpo, (ii) To identify the potentials, (iii) To determine the extent, the potentials have been harnessed, (iv) To identify factors that hinders the potentials of tourism. The study adopted a survey design approach. Data was collected from both primary and secondary source through orals interview, questionnaire, and direct observation methods. Four hundred questionnaires were administered in the three communities that were selected for this study. The sample size of 400 respondents was determined from the sample population of 130,329 resident’s population of Afikpo north using De Vaus Formula. Three hundred and eighty (380) were returned representing 95% questionnaire utilization. Simple random sampling and a purposive sampling techniques were employed to select the respondents who were the residents. The study identified factors that hinder tourism development in Afikpo and a breakdown showed that four out of the thirty one (31) variables were identified as the major factors that hinder the development of potential tourist sites. The findings revealed that lack of political will was the most prominent factor responsible for the undeveloped sites. This was followed by political bureaucracy, and political instability. The study therefore recommended amongst others the intervention of the government in the development of the tourism potentials in Afikpo, Ebonyi State.

Consequences of the next geomagnetic field collapse, concomitant with a magnetic polarity reversal or excursion, have been greatly underestimated as based upon a widely-accepted, but physically-impossible geoscience paradigm. The underlying causes of geomagnetic field collapse are inexplicable in that flawed paradigm wherein geomagnetic field production is assumed to be produced in the Earth’s fluid core. Here I review the causes and consequences of geomagnetic field collapse in terms of a new geoscience paradigm, called Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics, specifically focusing on nuclear fission georeactor generation of the geomagnetic field and the intimate connection between its energy production and the much greater stored energy of protoplanetary compression. The nuclear georeactor is subject to a staggering range and variety of potential instabilities. Yet, its natural self-control mechanism allows stable operation without geomagnetic reversals for times longer than 20 million years. Geomagnetic reversals and excursions occur when georeactor sub-shell convection is disrupted. Disrupted sub-shell convection can occur due to (1) major trauma to Earth such as an asteroid collision or (2) change in the charge particle flux from the sun or change in the ring current either of which can induce electrical current into the georeactor via the geomagnetic field causing ohmic-heating that can potentially disrupt sub-shell convection. Further, humans could deliberately or unintentionally disrupt sub-shell convection by disrupting the charge-particle environment across portions of the geomagnetic field by nuclear detonations or by heating the ionosphere with focused electromagnetic radiation. The use of electromagnetic pulse weapons is potentially far more devastating to humanity than previously imagined, and should be prohibited. During the next polarity reversal or excursion, increased volcanic activity may be expected in areas fed by georeactor heat, such as the East African Rift System, Hawaii, Iceland, and Yellowstone in the USA. One potentially great risk is triggering the eruption of the Yellowstone super-volcano.