Boteti
|
Boteti Boteti River, Botletle |
||
 The Boteti west of the Makgadikgadi Pans |
||
| Data | ||
| location |
 Botswana
|
|
| River system | Okavango | |
| origin | Confluence of the Nhabe and Thamalakane, south of Maun 20 ° 8 ′ 24 ″ S , 23 ° 22 ′ 32 ″ E |
|
| Source height | 932 m | |
| muzzle | south of Mopipi, west of Mokoboxane in Lake Xau Coordinates: 21 ° 16 ′ 16 ″ S , 24 ° 47 ′ 42 ″ E 21 ° 16 ′ 16 ″ S , 24 ° 47 ′ 42 ″ E |
|
| Mouth height | 909 m | |
| Height difference | 23 m | |
| Bottom slope | 0.08 ‰ | |
| length | over 300 km | |
| Drain at the mouth |
MNQ MQ MHQ |
0 l / s 10 m³ / s 22 m³ / s |
| Flowing lakes | Makgadikgadi Pans | |
| Reservoirs flowed through | Mopipi Dam | |
| Communities | Rakops | |
 The boteti at Makalamabedi |
||
The Boteti (English Boteti River ; also Botletle or Botletli ) is a river in Botswana . It is an endorheic river and the longest estuary of the Okavango .
Origin and course
The boteti is fed by the Okavango, which merges into the Thamalakane at Maun , and by the Nhabe , which comes from the west and is also fed by the Okavango. On older maps, the Nhabe is also known as a boteti or botletle. The Boteti flows through the sub-districts Ngamiland and Boteti, initially towards the southeast, later approximately eastwards. It forms the western border of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park .
At times the Boteti also flows into the Ntwetwe Pan , into which the Nata also drains when the water level is high . After the lower reaches of the Boteti has been channeled into the Mopipi Dam , the Ntwetwe Pan only very rarely receives water from the Boteti. The water of the Mopipi Dam is important for the operation of the largest diamond mine in the world in terms of area in Orapa .
Hydrometry
The flow behavior of the Boteti is different from that of most of the rivers in the region. During the rainy season , a tidal wave arises in the upper reaches of the Okavango, which reaches the Boteti after several months. It usually flows into the Makgadikgadi Pans around June / July . The slowing down of the water in the Okavango delta and its buffering effect lead to a time-shifted and more even runoff. The “peak runoff” does not take place in the rainy season in January, but in the middle of the dry season.
The flow rate was measured in m³ / s shortly before the mouth of the river (values read from the diagram).
ecology
Numerous animals on the Boteti are dependent on its water, as there is dry season all around. The area is home to the largest zebra and wildebeest migratory movements in southern Africa . They spend the rainy season in the Makgadikgadi Pans in summer and move to Boteti in autumn. In the early 1960s, a veterinary fence was built partially along the Boteti to protect domestic animals from foot and mouth disease , which cut off many wild animals from the water.
Grain could be grown below Sukwane until around 1980. Due to the diversion and canalization of the river below Rakops and the associated higher flow velocity, the cultivation had to be stopped. In 1993 the Boteti largely dried up. It was not flooded again until 2008 after an extensive rainy season.
River history
The area of the Okavango Delta up to the Makgadikgadi Pans was once flooded by a large lake, the Makgadikgadi Lake. It is also a tectonically very active area with several fault lines , mostly running from southwest to northeast . When this lake was shrinking about 1.5 million years ago. He shared in the northern basin of the Lake Ngami and the Mababe depression as radicals today, and a southern basin with the Makgadikgadi salt pans as today's radical, each with different height profiles. During this time, the Boteti formed the connecting river between the two basins.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Read on Google Earth
- ^ Integrated Hydrological Modeling of River-Groundwater Interactions in the Boteti River Area, Botswana
- ↑ a b Makgadikgadi Framework Management Plan - 2010
- ↑ Map of Namibia from 1969 , accessed on September 3, 2017
- ↑ a b Boteti River. afrika-reisefuehrer.de, archived from the original on May 18, 2015 ; accessed on May 12, 2015 .
- ↑ Botswana's zebra migration: Africa's longest mammal migration. africageographic.com, accessed January 30, 2019
- ^ Gale Ngakane: Boteti River shies away from Mopipi, Rakops. mmegi.bw of December 4, 2008 (English), accessed January 30, 2019
- ^ The evolution and ages of Makgadikgadi paleo-lakes: consilient evidence from Kalahari drainage evolution south-central Africa
