Geographical analysis of the physical aspect of Gashaka-Gumti National Park, North East Nigeria

Abstract

In this paper, the use of geospatial techniques for geographical analysis of the physical aspects of Gashaka-Gumti National Park (GGNP) in Nigeria was carried out. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) was acquired and processed in ArcGIS 10.5 to produce the relief and rivers /streams within the park, while the names of the identified rivers and streams were obtained from topographical maps. Landsat 5 TM of 1991 and 2003 as well as Landsat OLI 8 of 2021 were obtained online to map the vegetation pattern of each year using NDVI indices. Changes in vegetation within the three-year study period were detected using the area calculation module in ArcGIS 10.5. Mean annual rainfall and temperature of fifty years were obtained online from Diva GIS which were interpolated to generate the spatial pattern of rainfall and mean temperature within the park. The results show that the relief of the national ranges from 286 to 2419 m, with Chapal Wadi mountain as the highest elevation of 2419 m above sea level. River Yim has the largest drainage basin of 1862.22 km², while River Kam is the longest with 93.7 km. Mean annual rainfall ranges from 1349.9 in the north to 1717.9 mm in the south. Mean temperature from 26.2 to 36.6̊ C. There are four geologic units in the park, but Porphroblastic Gneiss covers the largest area of 4588.03 km². Among the seven existing soil units, Leptosols alone covered 65.09% of the park. Forest areas that gained a total land area of 91.43km² between 1991 and 2003, lost 70.88km² between 2003 and 2021, while non-vegetation which decreased in size to 209.09km² between 1991 and 2003, increased to 241km² between 2003 and 2021. It was recommended that the management of Gashaka Gumti National Park should be more proactive in the preservation of the park to minimize the rate of vegetation depletion within the park.