Cross river Basin

This basin is formed in Cross River, Akwa Ibom and parts of Abia States. There is the demarcation in the west by the scarp – face of Udi hill and in the east by the root hills of the eastern highlands. The region is generally with height of about 100 – 200m. The region is drained by Cross River and its tributaries which flow into the Atlantic ocean. The people in this region are mainly the Efiks, Ibiobios and Ibo. Important towns are Calabar, Uyo, Aba, Ogoja etc.

The lowland and Scarplands of South – Eastern Nigeria.

The rocks are made up of sand stones, shales, clays and coal and with the exception of the coastal areas and the Eastern highlands cover the whole of eastern Nigeria. Three sub-units can be demarcated.

1. The Cross river plain, east of Enugu, show out crops of folded cartaceons. Limestone and shales.
2. The scarp lands lies west of the longitude of Enugu and have two plateau like cuertas separated in the wide Mamu/Oji river valley.
3. The south – east plains are of tertiary rocks and lie south of the scarpland. They cover most of the Imo state.

The Coastal Margins Add Swamps

The region runs along the west from east to west is a strip of land below 30metres and made up of recent deposits of sand, clays and muds. These coastlands can be divided into two:

The Lagoon coast lies in the west where the strip is narrow. Sands predominant and sand bars cut off east west lagoon. The Lagos lagoon is partly made up of fresh water from the rivers and partly of sea-water stranded behind a sand-bar. The sea front of this bar is popularly known as Bar Beach.

The Niger Delta consist mainly of muddy deposits pushed out by the Niger into relatively tideless salt sea.

The Niger Delta, a fan shaped feature is found mainly in Rivers and Delta states. The region is generally a cow land area of about 0 – 30m above the sea level.

The area is drained by the distributaries of River Niger and River Ethiop. The area is mainly on swampy with numerous creeks and lagoons. The people in this area arethe Ijaws, Urhobos and Itesekiris.

The Interior Coastal Lowland of Western Nigeria

The interior coastal land could be found in the Western part of Nigeria which covers mainly areas that are very close to the Atlantic Ocean mainly Lagos, part of Ogun and Benin. This area is referred to as a lowland due to the fact that it lies below 300m above sea level. The area is mainly drained by rivers like River Ogun, River Osse and River Osun.

It extends to the Atlantic Ocean. The main occupation of the people in this area are farming, fishing and weaving.