Question
Q23) Which one of the following lakes of West Africa has become dry and turned into a desert?
- Lake Victoria
- Lake Faguibine
- Lake oguta
- Lake Volta
Answer: 1
Detailed Explanation
Lake Faguibine
It is an isolated lake in Mali, west of Timbuktu (Tombouctou).
It lies north of the Niger River in the Macina depression, and it is reached by branches of Niger in times of flood.
At high water, it reaches a length of about 50 miles (80 km).
One example of increasing aridity in Mali appears in Lake Faguibine.
These false-colour Landsat satellite images of the lake show how it changed over the decades. Lake Faguibine has experienced widely fluctuating water levels since the turn of the twentieth century but, at its fullest, has ranked among the largest lakes in West Africa. In 1974, this lake covered roughly 590 square kilometres (230 square miles). Starting in the late 1980s, a drop in precipitation steadily dried the lake. By the late 1990s, the traditional livelihoods of fishing, agriculture, and livestock herding became impractical. Even though normal rainfall resumed after the year 2000, the lake remained nearly dry. Hence, Option B is correct.
Lake Victoria
It is located at the border of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania on the African continent. River Nile originates from Lake Victoria and drains into the Mediterranean sea. Victoria Lake is the largest tropical lake in the world and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world by area. Its area is 26,828 square miles (69,484 square km). Among the freshwater lakes of the world, it is only behind the Lake Superior of North America.
Its waters fill a shallow depression in the centre of the great plateau that stretches between the Western and Eastern Rift Valleys.
Oguta Lake
It is a lean ‘finger lake’ formed by the damming of the lower Njaba River with alluvium.
It is the largest natural lake in Imo State, Southeastern Nigeria; within the equatorial rainforest region of Niger Delta.
Lake Volta
It is the largest artificial reservoir in the world based on the surface area, is contained behind the Akosombo Dam which generates a substantial amount of Ghana’s electricity.
It is completely within the country of Ghana and has a surface area of 8,502 square kilometres.
