Lake Chad : Ask Biography

Lake information

Name

Lake Chad

Lake type

Endorheic

Primary inflows

Chari River

Primary outflows

Soro & Bodélé Depressions

Basin countries

Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria

Geography

Surface area

1,350 km2

Average depth

1.5 m

Max. depth

11 m

Water volume

72 km³.

Shore length

650 km

Surface elevation

244 m (800ft)

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Lake Chad (French Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow lake in Africa, whose size has varied over the centuries. According to the Global Resource Information Database of the United Nations Environment Programme, it shrank as much as 95% from about 1963 to 1998; yet it also states that "the 2007 (satellite) image shows significant improvement over previous years". Lake Chad is economically important, providing water to more than 20 million people living in the four countries that surround it (Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria) on the edge of the Sahara Desert.