The open waters extend over areas ranging from 1,500 to 14,000 km2, with their peripheral areas covering vast wetlands.Lastly, Lake Chad follows an annual cycle. It has hardly witnessed any major changes since the beginning of the Sahelian drought of 70 years, except for minor seasonal and interannual fluctuations which are typical of its normal functioning.After a decline in rainfall from 1968, the year 1973 dramatically introduced a cycle of drought. With the exceptional rainfalls of 2012, a change is expected, albeit a small one, in the configuration of Lake Chad.La Commission du Bassin du Lac Tchad, Place de la Grande Armée, B.P.
The small tributaries located west of the lake, which drain the Cameroonian and Nigerian sides of the basin, provide only 3.6%. The contributions of the Chari-Logone system vary widely, from single to double inputs and sometimes more, similar to Sahelian rainfall.Thus, Lake Chad’s rhythms vary greatly, depending on a host of factors such as: the timing and amount of rainfall in the Sudanian and Sahelian areas; the previous fill level, vegetation, etc. The actual desert did not have its current proportions, it was much smaller.According to historians, the Sahara was largely covered by Mediterranean woody vegetation, particularly in the central massifs, which were surrounded by many lakes and dry grasslands. Humans have lived in the inner Chad Basin from at least eight thousand years ago, and were engaging in agriculture and livestock management around the lake by 1000 BC. The geological basin, which is smaller than the drainage basin, is a The basin may have resulted from the intersection of an "Aïr-Chad Trough" running NW-SE and a "Tibesti-Cameroon Trough" running NE-SW.At times, parts of the basin were below the sea. Losses are caused by evaporation (95.5%) and infiltration (4.5%).It should be noted here that the presence of shoals, the largest of which is called the Great Barrier Reef, compartmentalizes Lake Chad into several basins.
At its largest, sometime before 5000 BC, Lake Mega-Chad was the largest of four Saharan paleolakes, and is estimated to have covered an area of 1,000,000 km (390,000 sq mi), larger than the Caspian Seais today, and may have extended as far northeast as within … Permanent villages were established to the south of the lake by 500 BC at the start of the Iron Age. In the Sahel these include antelopes such as the The basin in the Nigerian section contains an upper aquifer of Both the current and historical areas of the basin and the mega-basin contain concentrations of fossils. The name Chad is derived from the Kanuri word “Sádǝ” meaning "large expanse of water". The history of Lake Chad is closely tied to the management of its natural resources (water fish, ...), a story replete with elements that reflect its uniqueness. Historically, Lake Chad has ranked among the largest lakes in Africa, though its surface area varies greatly by season, as well as from … In this light, a European coalition was set up. 727, N'Djamena, Tchad The history of Lake Chad is closely tied to the management of its natural resources (water fish, ...), a story replete with elements that reflect its uniqueness. The British, French and German explorations attracted foreign lust to the lake. Lake Chad, French Lac Tchad, freshwater lake located in the Sahelian zone of west-central Africa at the conjunction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. The Chad Basin contained important trade routes to the east and to the north across the Sahara. In the days of the great empires (Kanem-Bornu, Baguirmi Waddai, Mandara, Sokoto ...) Lake Chad was an important trading centre between Central and Northern Africa. Lake Chad was then divided into two (2) or three (3) basins:Since 1973, there have been few changes in the distribution of open water and vegetated wetlands.Since 1984, aside from two (2) particularly dry years, contributions from the Chari-Logone system have remained in the range of 15 and 25 kmIn addition, much as elsewhere in the Sahel, there has been a slight increase in rainfall since the late 80s and mid-90s: the current period is less humid than the decades from the 1950s to 1960s, but less arid than the height of the droughts in the 1970-1980s. By the 5th century AD camels were being used for trans-Saharan trade via the Fezzan, or to the east via Darfur, where slaves and ivory were exchanged for … Thus, the lake was opened up to navigation and became an international space with three (3) spheres of influence (British, French and German). We are hereby referring to the LCBC flagship project, related to the Inter-basin Water Transfer Project (PTEIB). But at the end of the First World War (1914-1918), France and Britain having vanquished Germany, divided the space into two (2), and began to push a colonial-style development model in the region.Once the neighbouring African States of the basin had achieved independence in the 60s (Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad), they set up the LCBC in 1964. BC to date, the waters have shrunk at a fast pace, corresponding with the advent of aridity and desert encroachment with several origins.Variations in Lake Chad, as shown in pictures below, indicate that many changes occurred on the following landmark dates:This situation has worsened due to: (i) increasingly scarce rainfall, (ii) severe droughts (1973, 1984 and 2008), and (iii) anthropogenic actions (deforestation, etc...).Ironically, while the lake is under threat, its riparian populations seem to be opposed to its refilling.