The Gauthiot Falls are a series of cascade

waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

considered a natural wonder in

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

. They are situated about halfway down the course of the

Mayo Kébbi The Mayo Kébbi is a river in Central and West Africa. The river rises in Chad, then flows west into the Bénoué River. Mayo-Kébbi Prefecture in Chad is named for it. The Mayo Kébbi is the major outlet for Lake Fianga, shared between Cameroo ...

river, found in southern Chad. Downstream from the falls, the flow of the Mayo Kébbi joins the

Benue River The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. The size of its bas ...

, which itself is a tributary of the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

, which ultimately flows into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The Gauthiot Falls are not a notably high cascade; all together, they descend only about . They are considered of interest because of their position between the drainage systems of the Mayo Kébbi and the

Logone River The Logon or Logone River is a major tributary of the Chari River. The Logone's sources are located in the western Central African Republic, northern Cameroon, and southern Chad. It has two major tributaries: the Pendé River (Eastern Logone) in ...

. The Mayo Kébbi and the Logone have their source in a series of lakes and marshes on a flat plain, which is fed by rain during the brief wet season. Some of the water drains into the Logone, which feeds

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...

, and some drains into Mayo Kébbi, eventually reaching the Gauthiot Falls. Erosion caused by debris in the water is gradually wearing away at the falls, causing their location to move slowly upstream. It is speculated by geologists that eventually, many thousands of years in the future, the water flowing through the Gauthiot Falls will erode their position so far upstream that they will consume the entire flow of the Logone River. At that point, the waters of the Logone will no longer feed into Lake Chad, which will shrink drastically due to the loss of a major water supply.

References

External links

United Nations Environment Program: World Conservation Monitoring Center
Landforms of Chad Waterfalls of Africa {{Chad-geo-stub

See also

References

External links