LAKE TURKANA
The largest closed-basin lake in the East African Rift is Kenya's Lake Turkana . Lake Turkana, formerly known as Lake Rudolph, is 250 km long and has a maximum width of 50 km. The surface area of the lake is about 7,500 sq. km.
The lake is famous for its color. It is sometimes referred to as the Jade Sea, which is largely due to the presence of blue-green algae in the phytoplankton community. Today, however the lake color, especially in the north, is brown because of sedimentation.
The drainage basin for
the Omo River is about 146,000 sq. km and is primarily within Ethiopia. There is little overland surface run-off into the lake from the surrounding watershed and no outlet from the lake. Most of the influx into the lake is from three rivers: Kerio, Turkwel, and Omo.
