Rokel
Rokel 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
- 9.00°, -11.85°
About Rokel
The Rokel River (also Seli River; previously Pamoronkoh River) is the largest river in the Republic of Sierra Leone in West Africa. The river basin measures 10,622 km2 (4,101 mi2) in size, with the drainage divided by the Gbengbe and Kabala hills and the Sula Mountains. The estuary which extends over an area of 2,950 km2 (1,140 mi2) became a Ramsar wetland site of importance in 1999.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Rokel River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Rokel in Depth
Geography
The Rokel rises in the 900-metre-high (3,000 ft) interior plateau of the Loma Mountains, in the Guinea Highlands of north central Sierra Leone, flows southwest about 240 miles (390 km) through hill ranges and, together with a smaller, parallel stream called Port Loko Creek, feeds into the Rokel estuary before entering the Atlantic Ocean. The estuary, after it joins the Bankasoka River, is also called the Sierra Leone River, is 25 miles (40 km) in length and has a width of 4–10 miles (6.4–16.1 km). Freetown and Pepel are the two ports located on the shores of the estuary. As the estuary widens and joins the Atlantic its width is about 11 km (6.8 mi). The southern shore is the deepest and forms a natural harbour, which is reported to be the third largest in the world.
History
John MacCormac, an Irish businessman, settled on Timbo Island in 1816 and started exporting African Oak from the Rokel River. The trade was quite substantial for a while but eventually went into decline. Iron ore and alluvial gold mining began in the late 1920s and early 1930s, while the Bumbuna Falls hydroelectric project is underway. The Yalunka people established their capital, Falaba, near the source of the Rokel. The estuary, which extends over an area of 2,950 square kilometres (1,140 sq mi), was listed as Ramsar site of wetland importance in 1999. The site is bounded by Cape Point on the western side of the Freetown, by the Bunce River on one of its banks, and the Tagrin Point where areas of the Rokel joins at the southern end of its mouth.
Geology
Rokel River and its tributaries are defined as the "Rokel River Group" for geological study. The geological formation in this group is reported to be of the Tabe formation with glacial sediments dominating its eastern edge and are exposed along the river in some stretches; the geological formation noted in the river is granite rocks. The formation is broadly categorized as folded sedimentary rocks. It is also reported that its orogeny belongs to the Pan African thermo-tectonic age of about 550 Ma. Geologically it is a tectonically controlled basin with formations of Precambrian, Infra-Cambrian and Pleistocene age. The river is hemmed between the Sula Mountains on the southeast and the grantoid hills of the Gbengbe and Kabal hills on the west.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Rokel River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Rokel: Key Facts
| Length | 386 km |
|---|---|
| Drainage basin | 10,622 km² |
| Mouth | Atlantic Ocean |
Facts from Wikidata Q1781219 (CC0).
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
Rokel: Quick Answers
- Where is Rokel?
- Rokel is located in Sierra Leone, at 9.0027° N, 11.8516° W.
- Are there dams on the Rokel?
- No dam on the Rokel is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.