The Present Day Drainage Patterns of the Congo River System and their Neogene Evolution

Authors

Tyrel J. Flügel, Frank D. Eckardt, and Fenton P.D. Cotterill

“A river or a drainage basin might best be considered to have a heritage rather than an origin. It is like an organic form, the product of a continuous evolutionary line through time” p. 421 Leopold et al. (1964)



Intruction

The immense ca. 3.67 million km2 Congo Basin (CB) is an intracontinental basin occupying central Africa. This roughly circular basin stretches across 22 of longitude (from ~12E to ~34E) and 21 of latitude (from ~9N to~13S) (Figs. 15.1 and 15.2). The basin’s unique location straddling the Equator and its size and shape allows the Congo River (CR) to maintain a near constant flow year round: its immense size and exposure to continuous precipi- tation results in an annual discharge of 1,250 Â 109 m3 (Meade 1996). This discharge makes the CR Africa’s largest river and the world’s second largest river in terms of volume, only being surpassed by the Amazon with a discharge 6,300 Â 109 m3 (Meade 1996). The CR is the culmination of a complex and extensive drainage network that exhibits localised drainage patterns and controls. As there appears to be no clear correlation between the present day solid loads of the large river systems and the climatic conditions, Pinet and Souriau (1988) consider that relief is the major controlling factor of the development of the drainage systems of the CB. The drainage network of the Congo River System (CRS) suggests a multi-stage and sometimes interlinked develop- ment of the basins river systems (Figs. 15.3 and 15.4). As rivers are one of the major drivers of topographic change.

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