The atmospheric diffusion of high-energy cosmic-ray hadrons induced by a single nucleus is calculated analytically under the assumption of three different types of cosmic-ray primary nuclei (proton, alpha and iron). We used the wounded model for nucleus-nucleus interaction and a strong scaling break model for nucleon-nucleon interaction. The nuclei fragmentation process is considered too. Calculation of the energy spectra of secondary hadrons are compared with experimental data of the highest (E0 > 1000 TeV) events observed in emulsion chamber at mountain altitude. We show that the hadron energy spectra in atmospheric showers are sensitive to the primary nuclear mass and this sensitivity decreases when atmospheric depth increases in the energy region above to 10(15)eV.105912831290