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Phosphate deposits of tropical sub-Saharan Africa

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Management of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Part of the book series: Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences ((DPSS,volume 24))

Abstract

Africa is the second largest of the world’s continents; it has an area of about 30 million km2, approximately three times the size of Europe, and a population approaching 500 million. From north to south in a straight line, the maximum distance is about 8,000 km, and from east to west it is about 7,200 km. Although the equator cuts almost exactly midway across the continent, with about two-thirds of the total area lying between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, more than half of the continent lies in the northern hemisphere because of the extensive ‘bulge’ occupied by North and West Africa and the Sahara Desert. Virtually the entire area of the sub-Saharan region considered in the present report lies within intertropical Africa (Figure 1). As such, it embraces some 30 independent states with the notable exception of South-West Africa (Namibia). A significant number of the countries referred to are also landlocked; striking examples are Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, and, in southern Africa, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. There is a remarkably smooth coastline, with an almost uniformly narrow continental shelf, a feature that reduces the chances of discovering major oil fields; on a smaller scale, there is also a marked absence of natural harbors.

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Authors
  1. G. H. McClellan
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  2. A. J. G. Notholt
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Agro-Economic Division, IFDC, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA

    A. Uzo Mokwunye (Soil Scientist) & Paul L. G. Vlek (Director) (Soil Scientist) &  (Director)

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© 1986 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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McClellan, G.H., Notholt, A.J.G. (1986). Phosphate deposits of tropical sub-Saharan Africa. In: Mokwunye, A.U., Vlek, P.L.G. (eds) Management of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 24. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4398-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4398-8_7

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