Bahr Salamat
Course of Salamat in the catchment area of the Shari
The Salamat (Arabic: Bahr Salamat ) is a seasonal river in the Sahel. It is a tributary of the Shari, the main tributary of Lake Chad. It rises in Sudan and flows to Chad. In its upper reaches it is known as Bahr Azoum. The Arabic word Bahr means as much as the sea or masses of water. The river crosses the city Am Timan and the conservation area Bahr Salamat (also Zakouma National Park ).
Geography
The river has its sources in the Darfur region of Sudan. Older literature sources give sometimes the Wadai region as headwaters. It arises from the confluence of many small streams that flow seasonally. The Springing in Darfur Bahr Azoum is the most important source river, is the most time of the year, however, a dry wadi, creates in the rainy season but also spectacular floods. After the city of Am Timan the river divides into a western ( Bahr Bola ) and an eastern arm and wraps around the Iro Lake. In these flows, a part of the eastern arm, which bears the name Salamat from here. North of the lake extends the Zakouma National Park, about halfway between the lake and the town of Am Timan.
Next on their way towards the west southwest, the two arms unite again and meander through savannah country, until finally on the right bank of the Chari River, about fifty kilometers downstream of the city of Sarh lead ( formerly Fort - Archambault ). The Aouk and Salamat pass through on their way through southern Chad Basin a level they inundate a large area in the rainy season of the West African monsoon. This flood level was declared under the title Plaines d' inondation the Bahr Salamat et Aouk on an area of 4.922 million hectares at a wetland of international importance and placed under the protection of the Ramsar Convention.
Hydrometrie
The water carrier was measured for 21 years ( 1953-73 ) in Am Timan. There, the average annual flow in this period was at 31 m³ / s for an area of 84,500 km ², 90 % of the total catchment area.
The average monthly banded flow of the river Bahr Azoum measured at the hydrological station of Am Timan ( in m³ / s) ( using data from a 21- year period 1953-73 calculated)