Physical Features

Landscape

The District is underlain mainly by sandstone and granite rock formation. The relief of the District easily marks the highest point of the Upper East Region. In areas bordering the basins of the White Volta River and its tributaries, the relief is generally low and slightly undulating with heights of 120-150 meters above sea level.

The rest of the District consists of series of plateau surfaces, which are remnants of prolonged periods of weathering and erosion of scattered hills.

 The average height of the plateau is 400 meters above sea level. Outcrops of rocks are also found in many areas.The Pusiga District is drained mainly by the White Volta and its tributaries.

Other streams which influence the drainage system include Poanaba and Kyinchingo. Except in a few areas around the river basin where the drainage becomes poor because of seasonal flooding, the area is generally well drained.

 
Vegetation

The vegetation is mainly of the Sahel savannah type consisting of open savannah with first swept grassland separating deciduous trees among which may be seen a few broad-leaved and fire-leached tree species. Parts of the forest reserves include Morongo West Kuaka and White Volta basin. These are protected areas by local authorities and the District Assembly. The climatic conditions render the District susceptible to bush fires in the dry season and thus exacerbate environmental degradation and poverty in the District.

Climate

As with the whole of Upper East Region, Pusiga District is part of the interior continental climatic zone of the country characterized by pronounced dry and wet seasons. The two seasons are influenced by two oscillating air masses. First is the warm, dusty and dry harmattan air mass which blows in the north eastern direction across the whole District from the Sahara Desert.

During the period of its influence (late November-early March) rainfall is entirely absent, vapour pressure is very low (less than 10mb) and relative humidity rarely exceeds 20 per cent during the day, but may rise to 60 percent during the nights and early mornings.

Temperatures are usually modest at this time of the year by tropical standards (260c-280c). May to October, marks the wet season. During this period, the whole of West Africa sub-region including Pusiga District is under the influence of a deep tropical maritime air mass. This air mass together with rising conviction currents, provide the District with rains.

The total rainfall amounts to an average of 800m per annum. A striking characteristic of the rainfall worth noting is the extreme variability and reliability both between and within seasons. Another striking characteristic is the quantities of rain water normally lost through evaporation from open water surfaces. Estimates of the volume of rain water loss vary from 1.55mm to 1.65mm per annum.