Falémé

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Falémé
Catchment area of ​​Senegal with the Falémé (bottom middle)

Catchment area of ​​Senegal with the Falémé (bottom middle)

Data
location West Africa Guinea Mali Senegal
Guinea-aGuinea 
MaliMali 
SenegalSenegal 
River system Senegal
Drain over Senegal  → Atlantic
Headwaters In Koya in the northern mountains of Fouta Djallon
11 ° 51 '33 "  N , 10 ° 52' 24"  W
Source height approx.  720  m
muzzle at Bakel in Senegal coordinates: 14 ° 45 ′ 48 ″  N , 12 ° 14 ′ 25 ″  W 14 ° 45 ′ 48 ″  N , 12 ° 14 ′ 25 ″  W
Mouth height 20  m
Height difference approx. 700 m
Bottom slope approx. 1 ‰
length approx. 675 km
Catchment area 28,900 km²
Discharge at the Gourbassy gauge (1112200)
A Eo : 15,000 km²
Location: 209 km above the mouth
NNQ
MNQ 1954–1990
MQ 1954–1990
Mq 1954–1990
MHQ 1954–1990
HHQ (max. Month Ø)
0 l / s
500 l / s
117 m³ / s
7.8 l / (s km²)
538 m³ / s
1250 m³ / s
Discharge at the Kidira
A Eo gauge : 28,900 km²
Location: 54 km above the mouth
NNQ
MNQ 1930–1989
MQ 1930–1989
Mq 1930–1989
MHQ 1930–1989
HHQ (max. Month Ø)
0 l / s
500 l / s
170 m³ / s
5.9 l / (s km²)
786 m³ / s
1805 m³ / s
Navigable 200 km
The falémé near Toumboura

The falémé near Toumboura

The Falémé river is the border river between Senegal and Mali for long stretches . It is the main tributary of Senegal .

geography

The river in the border region between Senegal and Mali is generally known under the name Falémé. Its headwaters, however, are much further south, in the northeastern foothills of the rainy mountainous region of Fouta Djallon in the common neighboring state of Guinea . Coming from there, several rivers of various lengths and strengths come together, which can be used as source rivers.

The source river with the longest valley path and the strongest and widest flow tracks that can be seen from the satellite perspective rises west of the village of Koya in the prefecture of Dinguiraye on the northern slope of an 830 m high unspecified mountain in a valley floor about 720 m high. This opens to the east to the village of Koya, two kilometers away. From there the valley turns south for about 15 kilometers and then takes 30 kilometers west. Then the river finally takes its way north. After a stretch of about 115 kilometers it reaches the Malian border at an altitude of about 150 m. In Mali, the general direction of flow describes a double curve that moves the Falémé by 30 kilometers to the west, where it reaches the border with Senegal. To this point it has covered a total of 232 kilometers from the headwaters and the river bed is around 125 m above sea level. From now on, the Falémé is a border river, with the exception of a section that stretches 75 kilometers south from Kidira ; a 20-kilometer-deep strip on the east bank of Senegal also belongs here. 80 kilometers north of Kidira, near the village of Ballou, the Falémé flows into Senegal from the left after about 675 kilometers . This confluence forms the triangle of Senegal and Mali with Mauritania on the other side of the Senegal River .

In the Falémé catchment area in southeastern Senegal, iron ore deposits have been identified, but have not yet been mined.

Hydrometry

Long-term series of measurements have been taken at two gauges at two gauging points: At the Kidira gauge, 52 kilometers above the confluence with Senegal (1930 to 1989) and at the Gourbassy gauge, 155 kilometers above Kidira (1954 to 1990), where a dam project is being pursued.

Kidira level

According to the series of measurements, there are six months in which it happened that the runoff completely dried up, that is, the months January to June. The month with the lowest average discharge value is May, where only 0.5 m³ / s can be expected at both gauges. The month with the highest discharge is September with an average of 785.9 m³ / s with a fluctuation range between 86 m³ / s and 1805 m³ / s. The discharge is more even in August, where it varies between 125 m³ / s and 1423 m³ / s with an average value of 594.2 m³ / s (Kidira level in each case).

Average monthly flow of the Falémé in m³ / s (years 1930 to 1989) :

traffic

The railway bridge at Kidira over the Falémé

About 200 kilometers of the lower Falémé are conditionally navigable. From the satellite perspective, the river bed in this section has a recognizable width of 50 to 100 meters, but also shoals, sandbanks and rapids.

At Kidira, two bridges lead over the Falémé. The Kidira railway bridge serves the Dakar – Niger railway line and the Kidira road bridge connects the RN1 in Mali with the N 1 and N 2 in Senegal. In the south there is another bridge for border traffic at Koundam in the Malian district of Kéniéba , where the N7 and the RN24 are linked. Both road bridges are part of the transcontinental highway project Dakar-N'Djamena-Highway .

Individual evidence

  1. Koya at Geonames
  2. OpenTopoMap
  3. OpenTopoMap
  4. Measure distances with google maps
  5. SENEGAL-HYCOS: Renforcement des capacités nationales et régionales d'observation, transmission et traitement de données pour contribuer au développement durable du bassin du Fleuve Sénégal ( Memento of December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) page 8 of the PDF file 1.23 MB
  6. GRDC - Gourbassy gauge
  7. a b GRDC - Kidira gauge
  8. Ballou at Geonames
  9. Gourbassi at Geonames
  10. OMVS: Projets de Barrages ( Memento from March 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  11. Koundam at Geonames

Web links