The Sota is a river of northern
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
flowing through the departments of
Borgou
Borgou is one of the twelve departments of Benin. Borgou borders the country of Nigeria and the departments of Alibori, Atakora, Collines and Donga. The capital of Borgou is Parakou. The department of Borgou was bifurcated in 1999, with its ...
and
Alibori
Alibori is the largest and northernmost department (French: ''département'') of Benin. Externally the department borders the countries of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria, and internally the departments of Atakora and Borgou. The department of ...
. It 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 Mali, ...
and the
Tassiné River is one of its tributaries. The river is approximately 250 km in length and covers a basin area of 13,650 km
2.
Geography
The Sota rises northeast of the town of
Ndali in the territory of Benin in Borgou Department. The river runs toward the north-north-east and empties into 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 Mali, ...
at
Malanville
Malanville is a city, arrondissement and commune in the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin, located across the River Niger from Niger. It is known as a centre of cross-border trade and has a major market. Malanville is also a centre for ric ...
.
Rainfall
The annual precipitation has been recorded at several stations in the basin of the Sota:
*
Segbana (center-east of the basin, near the Nigerian border): 1177.4 mm spread over 53 days.
*
Kandi (center-west of the basin): 1055.1 mm, spread over 80 days
*
Malanville
Malanville is a city, arrondissement and commune in the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin, located across the River Niger from Niger. It is known as a centre of cross-border trade and has a major market. Malanville is also a centre for ric ...
(at the north end of the basin at the confluence with Niger): 919.9 mm in 53 days
There is everywhere a large surplus rainfall from July to September (boreal summer), giving rise to violent floods, but the deficit is a severe dry season from December to April.
Hydrometry
The flow of the river has been observed for 40 years (1953-1992) at the hydro station in
Couberi, located near its confluence with the Niger River at Malanville.
At Couberi, the average annual flow module or observed during this period was 31 m³ / second for an area taking into account 9111 to 13,410 km ². The monthly average flows observed from February to April are from 3.7 to 3.9 m³ / second, which is quite remarkable in Africa at its discretion, with other rivers in the region falling consistently enough to nearly dry up in the dry season. It is true that the level of rainfall of 900 to 1200 mm per year is very consistent. On the observation period of 40 years, the minimum monthly flow was 2 m³ / second, while the maximum monthly flow amounted to 358 m³ / second which is more than the average flow of the
Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributaries ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
;Average monthly flows of Sota (m³ / second) measured at the hydrometric station Couberi. (Data calculated over 40 years)
Colors=
id:lightgrey value:gray(0.8)
id:darkgrey value:gray(0.3)
id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1)
id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0.9)
ImageSize = width:600 height:280
PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:140
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0
BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo
BarData=
bar:Jan text:Jan.
bar:Feb text:Feb.
bar:Mar text:March
bar:Apr text:April
bar:May text:May
bar:Jun text:June
bar:Jul text:July
bar:Aug text:August
bar:Sep text:Sept.
bar:Oct text:Oct.
bar:Nov text:Nov.
bar:Dec text:Dec.
PlotData=
color:barra width:30 align:left
bar:Jan from:0 till: 4.6
bar:Feb from:0 till: 3.7
bar:Mar from:0 till: 3.9
bar:Apr from:0 till: 3.8
bar:May from:0 till: 6.4
bar:Jun from:0 till: 10.3
bar:Jul from:0 till: 26.1
bar:Aug from:0 till: 74.4
bar:Sep from:0 till: 139.6
bar:Oct from:0 till: 74.4
bar:Nov from:0 till: 16.0
bar:Dec from:0 till: 5.9
PlotData=
bar:Jan at: 4.6 fontsize:S text: 4.6 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Feb at: 3.7 fontsize:S text: 3.7 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Mar at: 3.9 fontsize:S text: 3.9 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Apr at: 3.8 fontsize:S text: 3.8 shift:(-10,5)
bar:May at: 6.4 fontsize:S text: 6.4 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Jun at: 10.3 fontsize:S text: 10.3 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Jul at: 26.1 fontsize:S text: 26.1 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Aug at: 74.4 fontsize:S text: 74.4 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Sep at: 139.6 fontsize:S text: 139.6 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Oct at: 74.4 fontsize:S text: 74.4 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Nov at: 16.0 fontsize:S text: 16.0 shift:(-10,5)
bar:Dec at: 5.9 fontsize:S text: 5.9 shift:(-10,5)
References
External links
www-naweb.iaea.org
{{Coord, 11.875, 3.406, display=title
Rivers of Benin
Tributaries of the Niger River