The environment around Lake Chad up until 50 years ago
Back in 1000BC the depth of Lake Chad was 17 meters. In the 1900's Lake Chad was covered by Mediterranean woody vegetation. In 1908 it was merely a wetland with two small basins to the north and south. In 1920 to 1960 there were plans for diverting the Ubangi River into the lake. In the 1960's Lake Chad was a vast marshy area filled with water, islands and vegetation. In 1963 there was seasonal flooding that occurred due to Lake Chad being surrounded by wetlands and swamps. Also in 1963 Lake Chad covered 22,903 kilometre's squared to 25,000 kilometre's squared and today it's only 2,000 kilometre's squared. Lake Chad was the fourth largest lake in Africa. In Lake Chad alone there was 44 different species of algae. Lastly, Lake Chad had a hot dry climate with the annual rainfall only as small as 320mm.