100th century BCE – 60th century BCE
Southern Sudan and upper Nile basin
Pleistocene Sudd Lake was a proposed former inland sea occupying the Sudd region and extending through parts of the White Nile, Blue Nile, and Bahr el-Ghazal. Its existence is inferred from extensive fluviatile, deltaic, lacustrine, and beach deposits. The lake appears to have been particularly extensive between 12,000 and 8,000 years before present before shrinking as rainfall diminished.
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The Story
The Sudd of southern Sudan is presented as the remains of a defunct lake that may once have covered the upper reaches of the Nile. Its proposed extent included the White Nile, parts of the Blue Nile, and the Bahr el-Ghazal. The hypothesis arose from the exceptionally flat plains of central and southern Sudan and the recognition that modest increases in Nile levels could inundate large areas.
The proposed lake was estimated to have covered approximately 230,000 square kilometres within the 400-metre contour. The region is underlain by the Um Ruwaba formation, composed of a long sequence of fluviatile, deltaic, and lacustrine deposits. A beach at 382 metres skirts broad areas of the White Nile and is cited as evidence for the lake’s extensive former reach.
The lake’s chronology remains incompletely known, but its greatest extent appears to have occurred between about 12,000 and 8,000 years before present. It later contracted; by about 6,000 years before present, rainfall near Khartoum had diminished to approximately 600 millimetres annually and the White Nile stood only slightly above its present mean high level.
100th century BCE – 60th century BCE
Southern Sudan and upper Nile basin
Pleistocene Sudd Lake was a proposed former inland sea occupying the Sudd region and extending through parts of the White Nile, Blue Nile, and Bahr el-Ghazal. Its existence is inferred from extensive fluviatile, deltaic, lacustrine, and beach deposits. The lake appears to have been particularly extensive between 12,000 and 8,000 years before present before shrinking as rainfall diminished.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Sudd of southern Sudan is presented as the remains of a defunct lake that may once have covered the upper reaches of the Nile. Its proposed extent included the White Nile, parts of the Blue Nile, and the Bahr el-Ghazal. The hypothesis arose from the exceptionally flat plains of central and southern Sudan and the recognition that modest increases in Nile levels could inundate large areas.
The proposed lake was estimated to have covered approximately 230,000 square kilometres within the 400-metre contour. The region is underlain by the Um Ruwaba formation, composed of a long sequence of fluviatile, deltaic, and lacustrine deposits. A beach at 382 metres skirts broad areas of the White Nile and is cited as evidence for the lake’s extensive former reach.
The lake’s chronology remains incompletely known, but its greatest extent appears to have occurred between about 12,000 and 8,000 years before present. It later contracted; by about 6,000 years before present, rainfall near Khartoum had diminished to approximately 600 millimetres annually and the White Nile stood only slightly above its present mean high level.
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