Rusizi
Rusizi is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- -2.91°, 29.08°
About Rusizi
The Ruzizi (also sometimes spelled Rusizi, French: Rivière Ruzizi; Dutch: Ruzizi Rivier) is a river, 117 kilometres (73 mi) long, that flows from Lake Kivu to Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, descending from about 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) to about 770 metres (2,530 ft) above sea level over its length. The steepest gradients occur over the first 40 kilometres (25 mi), where hydroelectric dams have been built. Further downstream, the Ruzizi Plain, the floor of the Western Rift Valley, has gentle hills, and the river flows into Lake Tanganyika through a delta, with one or two small channels splitting off from the main channel.
The Ruzizi is a young river, formed about 10,000 years ago when volcanism associated with continental rifting created the Virunga Mountains. The mountains blocked Lake Kivu's former outlet to the drainage basin of the Nile and instead forced the lake overflow south down the Ruzizi and the drainage basin of the Congo.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Ruzizi River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Rusizi in Depth
Course
Along its upstream reaches, the river forms part of the border between Rwanda on the east with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on the west. Further downstream, it forms part of the border between the DRC and Burundi, and its lowermost reach lies entirely within Burundi. To the west, the Fizi Baraka mountains tower over the river. The Bridge of Concord, Burundi's longest bridge, crosses the river near its mouth. Tributaries of the Ruzizi River include the Nyamagana, Muhira, Kaburantwa, Kagunuzi, Rubyiro and Ruhwa, among others.
The Ruzizi River, flowing south into Lake Tanganyika, is part of the upper watershed of the Congo River.
Geology
Rifting, the slow pulling apart of a tectonic plate, has produced the East African Rift system and its many basins and lakes. The system, on the boundary between the African Plate (Nubian Plate) and the Somali Plate, has two branches, both oriented north–south. Rifting in the western branch, called the Albertine Rift, began between 25 and 10 million years ago. The Ruzizi River lies along the western rift, which includes, from north to south, lakes Albert, George, Edward, Kivu, Tanganyika, Rukwa, Malawi, and others.
Uplift associated with the rifting altered the connections among the region's water bodies. About 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, volcanic activity blocked Lake Kivu's former outlet to the watershed of the Nile.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Ruzizi River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Rusizi: Quick Answers
- Where is Rusizi?
- Rusizi is located in Burundi and Tanzania and DR Congo, at 2.9098° S, 29.0826° E.
- Are there dams on the Rusizi?
- No dam on the Rusizi is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.