Materials and Methods
Study Area
The research was conducted in Mowire near Kodie in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. An area lying between Latitude: 6° 48’ 21.38” (6.8347°) north and Longitude: 1° 38’ 25.43” (1.7172°) west with an elevation of 280m in the Afigya Kwabre District (Fig 1). Average temperatures ranged between 25.0 °C between July and August and 28.0 °C from March to April with an average annual rainfall of 1400 mm (Bannerman et al .,2013). The district experiences relatively high humidity ranging from 90% to 98% in the rainy season and drops to below 75% in the dry season (Bannermanet al .,2013). The district has a current population density of 397.3 persons per square kilometer with increasing demand of land for residential purposes whiles available land for agriculture and natural vegetation has been depleted. The forest vegetation has been degraded by lumbering, settlement development and agriculture. Part of the forest has been disturbed by various human activities such as farming, logging and quarry operations. The economy of the district is mainly agrarian employing about 61% of the total workforce. K.K quarry and Brosa Mineral Resource Limited are located at Mowire Township about (6km) away from Kodie on the Offinso highway. These two companies mine within the enclave of the quarry located in the town periphery. The quarry operation has existed and been active for the past fourteen years. Stone quarry is the main activity engaged by the two quarry companies. The stones are crushed into relatively small pieces of gravel-sized particles which are transported by heavy duty vehicles daily. Blasting of rocks are done every Tuesday and Friday. KK Quarry company take their turn to blast on Tuesdays whiles Brosa Mineral Resource blast on Fridays. The site was positioned on a radial map with three cardinal points Northern Zone (NZ), Eastern Zone (EZ) and Western Zones (WZ) (Figure1). Significant quarrying activities are undertaken on the (EZ) of the quarry operational which consist mainly of a secondary forest (dense canopy with a lot of undergrowth and sweet nectar plants) stretching along to the Northern part of the quarry. The EZ had the rock cracker which was a compact, cost-effective and transportable piece of machinery used to split, break stones and rock blocks, to reduce rocks and to split reinforced concrete. Crushing of stones into small pieces of rocks were done here. The rock cracker works almost every day for 24 hours generating a lot of noise and small volumes of dust to the adjoining environment. The (WZ) has two secondary forest (degraded with less canopy) patches as well as a sacred grove. The zone has a vast land which has been degraded by a lot of flying rocks from the quarry operations. Dust moves in this direction after every blast of the quarry which was done every Tuesday and Friday. The (NZ) comprises of a secondary forest and a settlement forming a large community and experiences a lot of land vibrations as a result of heavy vehicles which transport rock particles from the quarry site. The study was carried out between the months of August 2018 and February 2019, which spanned within dry and wet season.