The remnants of Lake Chad appear in olive-green amid the tan and light brown hues of the surrounding landscape where the countries of Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon all share borders. Once heaved aloft, the dust can be carried for hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. The small grains of the silty sand are easily swept up by the strong wind gusts that occasionally blow over the region.
As the waters receded, the silts and sediments resting on the lakebed were left to dry in the scorching African sun. But persistent drought conditions, coupled with increased demand for freshwater for irrigation, have reduced Lake Chad to about 5 percent of its former size. In the mid-1960s, Lake Chad was about the size of Lake Erie. Once serving as part of the floor for a much larger Lake Chad, the area now known as the Bodele Depression, located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in north central Africa, is slowly being transformed into a desert landscape. Lake Chad, Africa February 7 and 11, 2004.
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