Lake KIVU

1. Lake KIVU : presentation

Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River,
which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika.

Figure 1: Satellite image of Lake Kivu courtesy of NASA.

pg. 1
 Table 1: descriptive board for the lake

Coordinates 2°0′S 29°0′E

Salinity 1,15 g kg21: at surface

4.47 g kg :at 450 depth
Type Rift Valley lakes, Meromictic

Primary outflows Ruzizi River

Catchment area 2,700 km2 (1,000 sq mi)

Basin countries Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Max length 89 km

Max width 48 km

Surface area 2,700km2

Average depth 240m

Max depth 480m

Water volume 500km3

Surface elevation 1,460m

Islands Idjwi
Settlements Goma, Congo
Bukavu, Congo
Kibuye, Rwanda
Cyangugu, Rwanda
pg. 2
 Lake Kivu is one of the two smallest African Great Lakes (AGL), but is the third deepest and sits
at the highest altitude. The lake was formed by volcanic activity about 1 -5 million years ago. It
has a surface area of 2,370 km 2 , a shoreline of 860 km, a length of 97 km and width of 48 km,
an average depth of 240 m, a maximum depth of 485 m, water volume of 500 km 3 , a water
residence period of 193 years, and a basin of 5,097 km 2 . Rwanda and Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) both border the lake. Most of the water input is through rainfall (3.3 km 3 /year),
numerous small rivers (2.0 km 3 /year), and ground water (1.3 km 3 /year), and water loss is
through evaporation (3.6 km 3 /year) and the Ruzizi River into Lake Tanganyika (3.0 km 3 /year).
The area receives long rainy periods from February to May and short rains from October to
December, and the lake’s surface temperature varies between 22 and 24 o C.

 The salinity was estimated to vary between 1.15 g kg21 at the

surface and 4.47 g kg21 at 450 m depth, based on the ionic
composition of the water samples and following the procedure described by Wu¨est et al. (1996).

 Lake Kivu has no significant river inflows (only one outflow, the
Ruzizi River, which discharges into Lake Tanganyika); riverine intrusions can be excluded as alternative
sources of the
observed turbidity layers.

 The layer thickness is approximately 5 m, and the temperature increase is less than 0.058C

pg. 3
 2. PHYSICO-CHEMICAL STUDY OF LAKE KIVU
The waters of Lake Kivu manifest a particularly obvious 'stair-like' stratified structure following the variations of their
physico-chemical parameters with depth. The exact explanation of this phenomenon of stratification is complex. The
waters of the lake are made up of homogenous layers - where mixing by convection easily takes place - separated by
layers with a high density gradient which act as barriers to the mixing process.

A Franco-Swiss team of scientists is studying the physico-chemical makeup of the lake, its evolution through time, the
origin of the dissolved gases and an evaluation of the risk of a gas explosion.

pg. 4
 3. ORIGINS OF METHANE GAS.

Figure 2:Simplified model taking into account two parallel methods of methane gas formation in Lake Kivu ((K. Tietze, 1974 - 75).

K. Tietze's figure presents a model of the origins of methane gas.

The formation of Kivu's methane seems to be the result of two simultaneous actions :

- The first due to the fermentation of biogenic sediments

- The second due to the reduction in magmatic CO2 by bacteria.

4. WATERS STRUCTUREs

Figure 3:Vertical section of density, conductivity, temperature and pressure taken together : average of 23 profiles : K. Tietze 1974 - 75.

pg. 5
The waters of Lake Kivu manifest a particularly obvious 'stair-like' stratified structure following the variations of their
physico-chemical parameters with depth. The exact explanation of this phenomenon of stratification is complex.

The analysis of the gas content profiles of Lake Kivu indicate that the gas deposits are confined to the interior of the
depth contour - 270m - and that a layer favouring the harnessing of the waters of Lake Kivu is to be found at a depth
of approximately 350 m. Analysis of water taken from this depth shows that it contains dissolved gases of the order
of 2,5Lgas/Leau... This gas is made up of 5/6 carbon dioxide CO2 (2,1 LCO2/Leau), and 1/6 methane CH4 (0,425
LCH4/Leau)

Figure 4:Measurements from February 2002 : to be compared with the previous figure from 1974

pg. 6
Bibliography :

- http://mhalb.pagesperso-orange.fr/kivu/eg/eg_1a_lac.htm
- https://books.google.tn/books?id=cUFZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA167&lpg=PA167&dq=kivu+lake+dynamic&source=bl
&ots=uHaARRrzu0&sig=ACfU3U2PeRe-
HUbAYP6xzSEai0UuE2oXPA&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif8O7InungAhWoy4UKHVMHCM8Q6AEwD3oECAIQAQ
#v=onepage&q=kivu%20&f=false

pg. 7