PHYSIOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA - ABAKALIKI

Abakaliki, the capital territory of the present day Ebonyi State of Nigeria, is generally undulating and no location exceeds 400 m above-sea-level (Fig 1). A major relief structure is hills formed by the pyroclastic bodies. No trend has been established by previous research (Ofoegbu and Amajor, 1987) of these conical shaped hills and other residual hills that spread sporadically within the area. The predominant shale has favoured the low erodability of the lithology, resulting in absence or near absence of deep cut valleys and erosion channels. Stunted trees and pockets of derelict woodland exist
where the lithology has undergone high degree of laterisation. Elsewhere, typical characteristics of the tropical rain forest are displayed; multitude of evergreen trees, climbing plants, parasitic plants that live on the other plants, and creepers.
Two main seasons exist in the Abakaliki area, the dry season which spans from November to March and the rainy season which begins in April and ends in October with a short period of reduced rains in August commonly referred to as “August break”. Most hand dug wells and boreholes in this area are recharged during the peak of the rainy season. Temperature in the dry season ranges from 20°C to 38°C, and results in high evapotranspiration, while during the rainy season temperature ranges from 16°C to 28°C, with generally lower evapotranspiration. A number of hand dug wells are completely dried up in the peak of this season. The average monthly rainfall ranges from 31mm in January to 270 mm in July, with the dry season experiencing much reduced volume of rainfall unlike the rainy season, which has high volume of rainfall. Average annual rainfall varies from 1,500 mm to 1,650 mm. These climatic conditions are responsible for the development of thick lateritic soils in the Abakaliki area and its environs (Ezeh and Anike, 2009).
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