8/11/2017 Motloutse River - Wikipedia

Motloutse River
Coordinates: 22.225488S 29.017614E

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Motloutse River is a river in Botswana, a tributary of

the Limpopo River. The catchment area is 19,053 square Motloutse River
kilometres (7,356 sq mi). The Letsibogo Dam on the Country Botswana
Motloutse has been built to serve the industrial town of Basin features
Selebi-Phikwe and surrounding local areas, with potential for
use in irrigation.[1] River mouth 22.225488S 29.017614E
Basin size 19,053 km2 (7,356 sq mi)

Contents
1 Ecology
2 Water resource
3 Mineral resources
4 References

Ecology
A field survey of the region in January 1989, before the dam was
built, recorded 120 species of birds, mostly small insectivores. A
relatively large number of water birds were found due to the Location in Botswana
presence of permanent pools on the Motloutse river downstream
from its confluence with the Letlhakane river. The species of bird
were generally typical for the region.[2] Before the dam was built, five or more pioneer fish species would
migrate upstream from the Limpopo River into the Motloutse River during floods. The Letsibogo dam was
expected to support a permanent fish population similar to that of the Shashe Dam.[3]

Water resource
Mean annual precipitation is 430 millimetres (17 in), while mean annual potential evapotranspiration is 2,000
millimetres (79 in).[1] Due to this difference, the river is an ephemeral sand river with surface flow only during
the rainy season.[4] Rainfall is also highly variable, with rains of under 40% of the average expected one year in
seven.[5] Mean annual runoff is 111,000,000 cubic metres (3.9 109 cu ft).[1]

Mineral resources
Gold mining along the Motloutse and Limpopo rivers started around 1200 CE, about the time that Great
Zimbabwe rose to become a regional power.[6] Gold was found in 1860 in the old workings near Francistown,
to the north of the river, causing the first small gold rush in Africa.[7] The first authenticated diamonds to be
found in Botswana were three small stones discovered in 1959 by the Central African Selection Trust in gravels
in the Motloutse River near Foley Siding. The team that found the diamonds examined the river up to its
headwaters, but found no likely source. In 2004, geologist Leon Daniels identified a warp in the earth's crust
stretching from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe to the south of Botswana. He speculated that before the warp formed,
the Motoutse river could have risen much farther to the west. Eventually, he found the huge Orapa kimberlite.[8]

References
Citations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motloutse_River 1/2
8/11/2017 Motloutse River - Wikipedia

1. FAO Subregional Office ... 2004.

2. Bevanger 1994, p. 11.
3. Bevanger 1994, p. 12.
4. Bevanger 1994, p. 3.
5. Bevanger 1994, p. 10.
6. Denbow & Thebe 2006, p. 27.
7. Denbow & Thebe 2006, p. 29.
8. Daniels 2004, p. 31.

Sources

Bevanger, Kjetil (December 1994). The North-South Carrir Water Project in Botswana (http://www.nin
a.no/archive/nina/PppBasePdf/oppdragsmelding/320.pdf) (PDF). Trondheim. ISBN 82-426-0531-9.
Retrieved 2012-09-17.
Daniels, Dr Leon (September 2004). "First diamonds in Botswana" (http://www.scribd.com/doc/1947336
3/First-Diamonds-in-Botswana). Rough Diamond Review. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
Denbow, James Raymond; Thebe, Phenyo C. (2006). Culture And Customs of Botswana (https://books.g
oogle.com/books?id=8ycoVZ-DfrYC&pg=PA27). Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-
33178-7. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
FAO Subregional Office for Southern and East Africa Harare (2004). "Drought impact mitigation and
prevention in the Limpopo River Basin" (http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5744e/y5744e07.htm). FAO.
Retrieved 2012-09-17. |chapter= ignored (help)

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This page was last edited on 26 December 2016, at 19:53.

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