Delta Coasts in Africa

A Delta is a river mouth with its tributaries that divide into a low lying and swamp area.
1.    Formed when a river divides into different channels.
2.    This occurs in the old stage of a river when deposition is high.
3.    The water forms a feature which looks like bird's foot or cuspate.
4.    The longshore drift also shapes the nature of the coastline.
5.    R. Nile in Egypt, R. Niger in Nigeria and a small one on R. Senegal forms outstanding examples.

Bird’s foot Delta        Arctuate Delta

The Niger delta

This is a cuspate type of delta. It is covered on it’s shores and extends for 480 km from near Benin river to Opobo west of the Cross river out let. The Niger out let works the extreme point of the ark at the entrance west of the palm point.

Several rivers both distributaries and some separate from the Niger river form a broad farm called the oil rivers e due to the large quantities of oil palm produced in the region. Check for the map showing the Niger Delta in the Atlas.

The Nile delta

This forms up the acuate and birds foot delta. It is however small than the Niger Delta. It’s coastal area is only 240 km long. It’s coastal area also has numerous distributaries which are covered by dunes.

This delta is acuate because the sea has played part in shaping the entry part of the delta. Long shore draft erodes and removes some of the silt dropped by the river, side ways from the river mouth. The river mouth may be closed or blocked hence forming a lagoon.

As the lagoon is filled up with silt from the river mouth, marshy vegetation grows in the lagoon.

R. Nile also forms a bird foot delta because the distributaries emerge from one point for example at Cairo and flow towards the Mediterranean Sea in a foot like order similar to the foot of a bird. However on the whole, the Nile forms an Actuate delta.

Other delta coasts in Africa include; Volta arctuate delta in Ghana, Medjerda delta in Tunisia, Omo bird’s foot in Ethiopia and on River Rufigi in Tanzania.

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