# Lake Chala > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lake_Chala > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lake_Chala.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chala > Source revision: 1331094396 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Crater lake in Tanzania and Kenya}} {{Infobox lake | name = Lake Chala | type = [Crater lake](/source/Volcanic_crater_lake) | other_name = Lake Challa | location = Straddles the border between [Tanzania](/source/Tanzania) and [Kenya](/source/Kenya) in east Africa | image = Lake Chala.jpg | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | coords = {{Coord|3|19|S|37|42|E|type:waterbody_scale:3000000|display=inline,title}} | outflow = Subsurface | inflow = Subsurface | catchment = {{convert|1.38 to 1.43|km2}}{{cite journal | url=https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/43901012/lake.pdf | title=Interannual and (multi-)decadal variability in the sedimentary BIT index of Lake Challa, East Africa, over the past 2200 years: assessment of the precipitation proxy | author1=L. K. Buckles | author2=D. Verschuren | author3=J. W. H. Weijers | author4=C. Cocquyt | author5=M. Blaauw | author6=J. S. S. Damste | journal=[Climate of the Past](/source/Climate_of_the_Past) | year=2016 | volume=12 | issue=5 | page=1244 | accessdate=27 June 2018|doi=10.5194/cp-12-1243-2016| doi-access=free }} | basin_countries =Rombo, Tanzania
Kenya | length = | width = | area = {{convert|4.2|km2}}{{rp|215}}
{{convert|4.5|km2}} | depth = | max-depth = {{convert|98|m}} | volume = | shore = | elevation = {{convert|880|m}}{{rp|215}} | residence_time = | islands = | islands_category = | cities = | pushpin_map = Tanzania#Africa | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake Chala in Tanzania. | pushpin_map_caption = | website = | reference = }} '''Lake Chala''', also known as ''' Lake Challa''', is a [crater lake](/source/Volcanic_crater_lake){{cite web | url=http://www.go2africa.com/tanzania/lake-chala | title=Tanzania » Places Of Interest » Lake Chala | website=go2africa.com | accessdate=12 June 2010 | archive-date=22 April 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422024256/https://www.go2africa.com/destinations/tanzania/why-go | url-status=dead }} that straddles the border between [Kenya](/source/Kenya) and [Tanzania](/source/Tanzania). The lake formed approximately 250,000 years ago.{{cite journal | url=http://www.aqua.iee.unibe.ch/unibe/portal/fak_naturwis/d_dbio/b_ioekev/abt_ae/content/e60752/e339757/e376721/files681202/Dieleman_Muschicketal.2018_Hydrobio_LakeChala_eng.pdf | title=Species integrity and origin of ''Oreochromis hunteri'' (Pisces: Cichlidae), endemic to crater Lake Chala (Tanzania-Kenya) | author1=Jorunn Dieleman | author2=Moritz Muschick | author3=Wanja Dorothy Nyingi | author4=Dirk Verschuren | journal=[Hydrobiologia](/source/Hydrobiologia) | volume=832 | doi=10.1007/s10750-018-3570-7 | series=Advances in Cichlid Research III | date=4 April 2018 | page=12 | s2cid=4591524 | accessdate=27 June 2018 | archive-date=27 June 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627173649/http://www.aqua.iee.unibe.ch/unibe/portal/fak_naturwis/d_dbio/b_ioekev/abt_ae/content/e60752/e339757/e376721/files681202/Dieleman_Muschicketal.2018_Hydrobio_LakeChala_eng.pdf | url-status=dead }} The lake is east of [Mount Kilimanjaro](/source/Mount_Kilimanjaro), {{convert|8|km}} north of [Taveta, Kenya](/source/Taveta%2C_Kenya), and {{convert|55|km}} east of [Rombo District](/source/Rombo_District). The lake is surrounded by a steep crater rim with a maximum height of {{convert|170|m}}.{{cite journal | url= https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/36193/1/Wolff_LO_2014.pdf| title=Modern seasonality in Lake Challa (Kenya/Tanzania) and its sedimentary documentation in recent lake sediments | author1=Christian Wolff | author2=Iris Kristen-Jenny | author3=Georg Schettler | author4=Birgit Plessen | author5=Hanno Meyer | author6=Peter Dulski | author7=Rudolf Naumann | author8=Achim Brauer | author9=Dirk Verschuren | author10=Gerald H. Haug | journal=[Limnology and Oceanography](/source/Limnology_and_Oceanography) | year=2014 | volume=59 | number=5 | page=1621 |doi=10.4319/lo.2014.59.5.1621 | doi-access=free }} Lake Chala's average annual rainfall is about {{convert|565|mm}}.{{cite journal | url=http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/229981.pdf | title=The seismic-stratigraphic record of lake-level fluctuations in Lake Challa: Hydrological stability and change in equatorial East Africa over the last 140 kyr | author1=J. Moemaut | author2=D. Verschuren | author3=F. Charlet | author4=I. Kristen | author5=M. Fagot | author6=M. De Batist | journal=[Earth and Planetary Science Letters](/source/Earth_and_Planetary_Science_Letters) | date=13 January 2010 | volume=290 | issue=1–2 | pages=214–223 | accessdate=27 June 2018|doi= 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.12.023}}{{rp|215}} The lake surface has an average annual evaporation of near {{convert|1735|mm}}. Approximately 80 percent of the lake's inflow comes from groundwater, which is derived mostly from rainfall in the [montane forest](/source/Montane_ecosystems) zone of Mount Kilimanjaro at an elevation of {{convert|1800 to 2800|m}}. It takes about three months for groundwater to reach the lake.{{rp|221}} The groundwater flowed into the lake at an estimated annual volume of {{convert|8390000|m3}} from 1964 through 1977.{{cite journal | url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0eb4/3f2932b390a81d7a1e15ae178f59dabd2520.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625161058/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0eb4/3f2932b390a81d7a1e15ae178f59dabd2520.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-date=25 June 2018 | title=Radioisotopes for the Estimation of the Water Balance of Lakes and Reservoirs | author=B. R. Payne | journal=Tracer Methods in Isotope Hydrology | publisher=[International Atomic Energy Agency](/source/International_Atomic_Energy_Agency) | year=1982 | page=161 | accessdate=25 June 2018}} ==Ecology== thumb|Aerial photo of Lake Chala The only native fish in this lake is the [Lake Chala tilapia](/source/Lake_Chala_tilapia) (''Oreochromis hunteri''), which is found nowhere else in the world.{{cite web | url=http://www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.php?id=2032 | title=''Oreochromis hunteri'' | website=fishbase.org | accessdate=25 June 2018}}{{cite journal| author1=Dieleman, J. | author2=M. Muschick | author3=W.D. Nyingi | author4=D. Verschuren | year=2019 | title=Species integrity and origin of Oreochromis hunteri (Pisces: Cichlidae), endemic to crater Lake Chala (Kenya–Tanzania) | journal=Hydrobiologia | volume=832 | issue=1 | pages=269–282 | doi=10.1007/s10750-018-3570-7 | s2cid=4591524 | url=https://boris.unibe.ch/116496/ }} It is considered [critically endangered](/source/critically_endangered) by the [IUCN](/source/IUCN),{{cite web | url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/60634/0 | title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Oreochromis hunteri | publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature | year=2006 | accessdate=25 June 2018}} and now greatly outnumbered by other [tilapia](/source/tilapia) species that have been [introduced](/source/Introduced_species) to Lake Chala.{{cite journal| author1=Moser, F.N. | author2=J.C. van Rijssel | author3=B. Ngatunga | author4=S. Mwaiko | author5=O. Seehausen | year=2019 | title=The origin and future of an endangered crater lake endemic; phylogeography and ecology of Oreochromis hunteri and its invasive relatives | journal=Hydrobiologia | volume=832 | issue=1 | pages=283–296 | doi=10.1007/s10750-018-3780-z | s2cid=52944759 | url=https://boris.unibe.ch/120465/7/Moser%20et%20al.%202018%20Hydrobiologia%20Lake%20Chala_accepted%20version.pdf }}{{Citation|last1=Volkman|first1=John K.|title=Lipid Biomarkers as Organic Geochemical Proxies for the Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Estuarine Environments|date=2017|work=Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies|pages=173–212|publisher=Springer Netherlands|isbn=978-94-024-0988-8|last2=Smittenberg|first2=Rienk H.|doi=10.1007/978-94-024-0990-1_8}} An 18-year-old British woman was killed in 2002 by a relatively small [Nile crocodile](/source/Nile_crocodile) while swimming at night in the lake.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/1387739/British-girl-killed-by-rare-dwarf-crocodile.html | location=London | newspaper=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) | author=Adrian Blomfield | title=British girl 'killed by rare dwarf crocodile' | date=14 March 2002 | accessdate=25 June 2018}}{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/12/world.education | title=Girl's body found in crocodile lake | author=James Astill | newspaper=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) | location=London | date=12 March 2002 | accessdate=25 June 2018}} A few days later, the [Kenya Police Service](/source/Kenya_Police) said that the lake was "infested" with crocodiles, while the [Kenya Wildlife Service](/source/Kenya_Wildlife_Service) said, "Crocodiles are found in Lake Chala and it is not regarded as safe to swim at all."{{cn|date=September 2020}} ==See also== {{Commons category|Lake Chala}} *[Chaga people](/source/Chaga_people) *[List of lakes of Kenya](/source/List_of_lakes_of_Kenya) *[List of lakes of Tanzania](/source/List_of_lakes_of_Tanzania) *[Rombo District](/source/Rombo_District) ==References== {{reflist}} {{Lakes of Tanzania}} {{Lakes of Kenya}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Chala}} Category:Geography of Kilimanjaro Region Category:Kenya–Tanzania border Category:Lakes of Kenya Category:Lakes of Tanzania Category:Volcanic crater lakes Category:Volcanoes of Kenya Category:Volcanoes of Tanzania --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lake Chala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chala) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chala?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.