SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF INSELBERGS IN THE BASEMENT COMPLEX TERRAIN OF WESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the spatial distribution pattern of inselbergs on a granitic landscape located in Igbajo District in the central part of the Western Nigerian Basement Complex region. The goal of the study was to infer the plausible evolutionary pathway of inselbergs in the study area, and in related parts of the tropical landscape. The study employed the Poisson Probability Distribution (PPD) technique and the Nearest Neighbour Analysis (NNA) to evaluate the spatial distribution of the inselbergs in the study area. Inselbergs were defined as point features and enumerated following the imposition of regular grid cells on the entire inselberg landscape. Analysis was carried out principally in a Geographic information System (GIS) environment with ArcGIS 10.3 software. The results of the spatial pattern analysis indicated a clustered distribution of inselbergs in the study area. It was thus established from the study that spatial distribution of inselbergs was not sufficient to unravel the underlying process behind their evolution. Hence recourse must be made to other important factors pertaining to structure and lithology of the underlying rocks.