Paul Bertrand Tsopkeng
Postgraduate School for Pure and Applied Sciences, The University of Douala, P.O.Box 2701, Douala, Cameroon
Josiane Feugue Kenfack
Department of Geography, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, P.O.Box 49, The University of Dschang, Cameroon
David Guimolaire Nkouathio
Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, P.O.Box 67, The University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon
Charles Antoine Basseka
Postgraduate School for Pure and Applied Sciences, The University of Douala, P.O.Box 2701, Douala, Cameroon
Leonel Koudjou Tsague
Department of Hydraulics and Water Management, National Advanced School of Engineering of Maroua, The University of Maroua, P.O.Box 46, Maroua, Cameroon
The Nkoup watershed (10°35’-10°47’E and 5°27’-5°42’N) is a volcanic zone situated in Nun Plain West Cameroon. The high fertility of the soils makes it a strategic agropastoral area where water resources are heavily exploited and used for several purposes. Due to human activities, soils and water resources are deteriorating, giving birth to water pollution and hydromorphological hazards. This work aims to determine the hydromorphometric parameters of the Nkoup watershed so that the data obtained help in the sustainable management of water resources and conservation of soil. To achieve this aim, various data were collected from DEM dataset derived from SRTM and processed in specialized software (QGIS and ArGIS). The simplified hydrological balance was calculated using the upstream approach. The Nkoup watershed has: Axial length Lax = 25.8 km, Axial Width Wax = 11.1 km, Perimeter P = 132.6 km, Area A = 173.7 km2 , Average Altitude Ha = 1726.3 m, Compactness Index Icomp = 2.8, Relief ratio Rr = 3.9 m/km, Circularity ratio Rc = 0.1, Elongation ratio R = 0.1, Drainage texture ratio Rt = 0.6, Drainage density Dd = 0.5 km/km2 . Stream Frequency Fs = 0.4, Channel Sinuosity Index CSI = 0.8, Stream gradient Sg = 0.6 and global slope Index Ig = 6.8 m/km. The specific height Difference Ds = 89.4 m shows moderate relief. The precipitation and evapotranspiration are unevenly distributed. With P = 187.7 mm/an, ETP = 953.4 mm/an, Q = 4.2 m3 /s, R = 762.5 mm/an, ETR = 832.3 mm/an and I = 282.9 mm/an. The Nkoup, 36.9 km long, has a sinuous aspect due to the low slope and the high CSI. The piezometric levels vary according to the seasons and the groundwater flow follows the N-S direction as surface flow.
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Copyright © 2023 Paul Bertrand Tsopkeng, Josiane Feugue Kenfack, David Guimolaire Nkouathio, Charles Antoine Basseka, Leonel Koudjou Tsague
This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.
