Lake Chala

{{Short description|Crater lake in Tanzania and Kenya}}

{{Infobox lake

| name = Lake Chala

| other_name = Lake Challa

| location = Straddles the border between Tanzania and Kenya in east Africa

| image = Lake Chala.jpg

| image_bathymetry =

| caption_bathymetry =

| coords = {{Coord|3|19|S|37|42|E|type:waterbody_scale:3000000|display=inline,title}}

| outflow = Subsurface

| inflow = Subsurface

| catchment = {{convert|1.38 to 1.43|km2}}{{cite journal | url=https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/43901012/lake.pdf | title=Interannual and (multi-)decadal variability in the sedimentary BIT index of Lake Challa, East Africa, over the past 2200 years: assessment of the precipitation proxy | author1=L. K. Buckles | author2=D. Verschuren | author3=J. W. H. Weijers | author4=C. Cocquyt | author5=M. Blaauw | author6=J. S. S. Damste | journal=Climate of the Past | year=2016 | volume=12 | issue=5 | page=1244 | accessdate=27 June 2018|doi=10.5194/cp-12-1243-2016| doi-access=free }}

| basin_countries =Rombo, Tanzania
Kenya

| length =

| width =

| area = {{convert|4.2|km2}}{{rp|215}}
{{convert|4.5|km2}}

| depth =

| max-depth = {{convert|98|m}}

| volume =

| shore =

| elevation = {{convert|880|m}}{{rp|215}}

| residence_time =

| islands =

| islands_category =

| cities =

| pushpin_map = Tanzania#Africa

| pushpin_label_position =

| pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake Chala in Tanzania.

| pushpin_map_caption =

| website =

| reference =

}}

Lake Chala, also known as Lake Challa, is a crater lake{{cite web | url=http://www.go2africa.com/tanzania/lake-chala | title=Tanzania » Places Of Interest » Lake Chala | website=go2africa.com | accessdate=12 June 2010}} that straddles the border between Kenya and Tanzania. The lake formed approximately 250,000 years ago.{{cite journal | url=http://www.aqua.iee.unibe.ch/unibe/portal/fak_naturwis/d_dbio/b_ioekev/abt_ae/content/e60752/e339757/e376721/files681202/Dieleman_Muschicketal.2018_Hydrobio_LakeChala_eng.pdf | title=Species integrity and origin of Oreochromis hunteri (Pisces: Cichlidae), endemic to crater Lake Chala (Tanzania-Kenya) | author1=Jorunn Dieleman | author2=Moritz Muschick | author3=Wanja Dorothy Nyingi | author4=Dirk Verschuren | journal=Hydrobiologia | volume=832 | doi=10.1007/s10750-018-3570-7 | series=Advances in Cichlid Research III | date=4 April 2018 | page=12 | s2cid=4591524 | accessdate=27 June 2018 | archive-date=27 June 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627173649/http://www.aqua.iee.unibe.ch/unibe/portal/fak_naturwis/d_dbio/b_ioekev/abt_ae/content/e60752/e339757/e376721/files681202/Dieleman_Muschicketal.2018_Hydrobio_LakeChala_eng.pdf | url-status=dead }} The lake is east of Mount Kilimanjaro, {{convert|8|km}} north of Taveta, Kenya, and {{convert|55|km}} east of Rombo District. The lake is surrounded by a steep crater rim with a maximum height of {{convert|170|m}}.{{cite journal | url= https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/36193/1/Wolff_LO_2014.pdf| title=Modern seasonality in Lake Challa (Kenya/Tanzania) and its sedimentary documentation in recent lake sediments | author1=Christian Wolff | author2=Iris Kristen-Jenny | author3=Georg Schettler | author4=Birgit Plessen | author5=Hanno Meyer | author6=Peter Dulski | author7=Rudolf Naumann | author8=Achim Brauer | author9=Dirk Verschuren | author10=Gerald H. Haug | journal=Limnology and Oceanography | year=2014 | volume=59 | number=5 | page=1621 |doi=10.4319/lo.2014.59.5.1621 | doi-access=free }}

Lake Chala's average annual rainfall is about {{convert|565|mm}}.{{cite journal | url=http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/229981.pdf | title=The seismic-stratigraphic record of lake-level fluctuations in Lake Challa: Hydrological stability and change in equatorial East Africa over the last 140 kyr | author1=J. Moemaut | author2=D. Verschuren | author3=F. Charlet | author4=I. Kristen | author5=M. Fagot | author6=M. De Batist | journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters | date=13 January 2010 | volume=290 | issue=1–2 | pages=214–223 | accessdate=27 June 2018|doi= 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.12.023}}{{rp|215}} The lake surface has an average annual evaporation of near {{convert|1735|mm}}. Approximately 80 percent of the lake's inflow comes from groundwater, which is derived mostly from rainfall in the montane forest zone of Mount Kilimanjaro at an elevation of {{convert|1800 to 2800|m}}. It takes about 3 months for groundwater to reach the lake.{{rp|221}} The groundwater flowed into the lake at an estimated annual volume of {{convert|8390000|m3}} from 1964 through 1977.{{cite journal | url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0eb4/3f2932b390a81d7a1e15ae178f59dabd2520.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625161058/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0eb4/3f2932b390a81d7a1e15ae178f59dabd2520.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-date=25 June 2018 | title=Radioisotopes for the Estimation of the Water Balance of Lakes and Reservoirs | author=B. R. Payne | journal=Tracer Methods in Isotope Hydrology | publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency | year=1982 | page=161 | accessdate=25 June 2018}}