The Soummam River (pronounced om'm is a river in northern Algeria, born from the confluence of the

Sahel River The Sahel River is a river in northern Algeria, which flows into the Soummam River at Akbou Akbou or Aqvu ( ar, أقبو) is a town in the Kabylie region in northern Algeria in Béjaïa Province. It is a growing city with a population of 52,300 ...

and the

Bou Sellam River The Bou Sellam River is a river of the Maghreb region in Algeria, in Bordj Bou Arréridj Province Bordj Bou Arréridj ( ar, ولاية برج بوعريريج) is a province (''wilaya'') in northern Algeria around 200 km from the capital Alg ...

near

Akbou Akbou or Aqvu ( ar, أقبو) is a town in the Kabylie region in northern Algeria in Béjaïa Province. It is a growing city with a population of 52,300 in 2008. This is a number approximately 20,000 more than what was recorded in 1998. Histor ...

and flowing into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

at Béjaïa.

Description

The waters that reach the sea in this place have for their origins the Mounts of Ain Oulmane, south of Setif, Mount Dirah, south of Bouira, and the extreme west of Djurdjura. It is in fact that the

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, h ...

of the region places the southernmost sources of the Soummam at the limits of the semi-arid zone characterized by rigors linked to the continental climate, whereas the closest sources are located in the territories Humid to temperate climate. The Soummam constitutes a dense and well-supplied hydrographic network, particularly in its part situated in the Tellian Atlas: Djurdjura, Babors and Bibans. Its watershed covers an area of 9 200 km2 spread over four wilayas: Bouira, Bordj Bou Arréridj, Sétif and Béjaïa. With the Cheliff, the Tafna and the Rhummel, the Soummam is one of the largest rivers of Algeria. Oued Soummam drains a catchment area of 9 200 km2 divided as follows: *Basin of

Oued Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

from Sour El-Ghozlane (wilaya of Bouira) to

: 3,750 km²; *Basin of

from north of Setif to Akbou: 4,500 km²; *Basin of the Soummam, is strictly speaking, only from Akbou to the sea: 950 km².

River valley

The valley of the Soummam is named after the river which crosses it. It is located in

Kabylia Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of th ...

, a region of northern Algeria, occupying a wide corridor in the wilaya of Bejaia. The

Béni Mansour-Bejaïa line The Béni Mansour-Béjaïa line is an Algerian railway connecting the Soummam River valley to the Algiers-Skikda line over 88 kilometers. The line was opened in full in 1899. History During French Algeria, plans were made to connect Béja ...

is a regional railway that closely follows this river valley and connects to the national rail network in the municipality of

Boudjellil Boudjellil is a town in northern Algeria. It is part of Tazmalt District, post code 06018 Boudjellil is home to the community of Béni Mansour, where the regional Béni Mansour-Bejaïa line The Béni Mansour-Béjaïa line is an Algerian ra ...

. Between the Akfadou-Gouraya set in the north, the Biban chain (the historic territory of the Ait Abbas) in the south-east and the Sahel-Djurdjura valley (Tazmalt commune) in the south-west. The Soummam valley, which extends from Akbou to Béjaia, appears as a narrow winding corridor 65 km long (inside the wilaya of Béjaïa) over a maximum width of 4 km at El Kseur. The slopes particularly to the south, are relatively mild slopes and therefore very developed. This area is broken down into small pedological units: the flysch prevails in Akbou, the sandstone is predominant in El Kseur. The municipalities of Amizour, El Kseur, Ouzellaguen and Timezrit have vast areas suitable for rich crops such as market gardening and fruit growing.

Hydrology

The Soummam valley is drained by a dense hydrographic network, composed of numerous permanent and intermittent rivers, of which the Oued Soummam represents the main collector. According to the hydrological data collected between 1961 and 1976, the average flow of the Soummam is 25 m³ / s7. During the 1970 flood period, the maximum recorded flow was 115.9 m³ / s and the low flow (during the months of July and August) dropped to 0.6 m3 / s. Indeed, these flows show great irregularities inter-annual, and therefore seasonal. At its mouth, the Soummam has a contribution of 700,106 m³ / year of water which it diversifies in the Mediterranean Sea (Visiterv, 1987). The main input comes from the tributaries of the left bank, with an average total of 68.106 m³ / year, and the tributaries of the right bank discharge an average of 25 × 106 m³ / year. The tributaries of the left bank are located on slopes that are more watered in rain and snow, enabling them to channel a greater surface flow than the slopes drained by the tributaries of the right bank.

Name

The word Soummam is a distortion of the word kabyle "assemmam", which means "acid".

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

had cited the Soummam as being called "Nasava" by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

.Joseph Guade
Dictionnaire universel abrégé de géographie ancienne compare
(Desray, 1820).

References

{{reflist Rivers of Algeria Ramsar sites in Algeria Bodies of water of Algeria Landforms of Algeria