Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International 3(1): 1-11, 2015; Article no.JGEESI.17114 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Drainage Morphology of Imo Basin in the Anambra – Imo River Basin Area, of Imo State, Southern Nigeria G. T. Amangabara1* 1Department of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. Author’s contribution The sole author designed, analyzed and interpreted and prepared the manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/JGEESI/2015/17114 Editor(s): (1) Masum A Patwary, Geography and Environmental Science, Begum Rokeya University, Bangladesh. Reviewers: (1) Anonymous, Institute of Seismological Research, Gujarat, India. (2) Anonymous, Chengdu University of Technology, China. Complete Peer review History: http://sciencedomain.org/review-history/9765 Received 26th February 2015 nd Original Research Article Accepted 22 May 2015 Published 15th June 2015 ABSTRACT This study involved the delineation of all the river sub-basins in the Imo Basin of the Anambra-Imo River basin area. It the area drained by measuring all the tributaries and their stream order. This study found out that there are basically five sub-basins in Imo State, viz. Imo River, Upper Orashi, Njaba/Lower Orashi, Otamiri, and Ogechie River sub-basins. All of these rivers and their tributaries cover approximately 5, 493.45 km2 in Imo State. The Imo River is one of the largest river basin covering (1,322.82 km2) and drained through northeast tilted topographic slope and disappears into the Atlantic Ocean near Opobo estuary; while Orashi and Njaba flows northwest and down south to the Bight of Bonny in the Gulf of Guinea - (is a part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean). Keywords: River basin; catchment; watershed; otamiri; Imo river; stream order; tributaries. 1. INTRODUCTION flow downhill into one another, and eventually into the Ocean. Essentially it acts as a funnel, Conventionally river basin is the portion of land collecting water and shunting it into the ocean or drained by a river and its tributaries. It into inland lakes and seas. A river basin can be encompasses the entire land surface dissected relatively small, or quite large, and in all cases, and drained by many streams and creeks that they are interconnected systems. Political or _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]; Amangabara; JGEESI, 3(1): 1-11, 2015; Article no.JGEESI.17114 administrative boundaries do not determine the Oguta watershed and Owerri watershed. The direction and flow of rivers, it thus requires the basis for this categorization was not also co-operations of States/Countries within the explained and is misleading. The objectives of natural hydrological unit of the river basin in this paper therefore include: protecting and managing the system bringing together all interests upstream and downstream, 1. Delineation of the sub-basins of Imo State this is so because drainage basins are a very drainage systems. important part of the world's ecology. 2. Identification of major rivers and their stream orders. Management of river basins can be extremely 3. As well as discuss the features of some of challenging because they cross regional and the major rivers in this basin to ease national boundaries and especially so when effective planning and management. With neighboring nations have differing views about the hope that this work can serve as a the best way to manage the system. Following baseline study for further research in the the 1972-74 drought in Nigeria which many management of water resources as well as describeas the worst ever experienced in the control of flood and erosion Nigeria, the Supreme Military Council promulgated decree 25 of 1976, as a swift move 2. STUDY AREA towards the development of Nigeria’s water resources. Accordingly twelve river basin The study area (Imo State) Fig. 1 is located in development authorities, (RBDAs), were created the Southeastern region of Nigeria and is one of to harness the nation’s water resources and the 36 States of the Federation, with Owerri as optimize its agricultural resources for food its capital and largest city. It lies between latitude sufficiency. The RBDAs include; Upper Benue 4°45'N and 5°50'N, longitude 6°35'E and 7°30'E, Basin, the Lake Chad Basin, Benin-Owena and covers approximately 5,529.17 km2 area with Basin, Sokoto-Rima Basin, Sokoto; Hadejia- a Population of 2,938,708 [6]. The State derives Jema’are Basin, Kano; the Lower Benue Basin, its name from Imo River, which takes its course Makurdi and the Cross River Basin, Calabar. The from the Okigwe/Awka upland. Imo State is others are; Oshun-Ogun Basin, Abeokuta; located between the lower River Niger and the Anambra-Imo Basin, Owerri; the Upper Niger upper and middle Imo River in the Southeastern Basin, Ilorin; Lower Niger River Basin and Niger part of the country. Delta Basin, Port Harcourt. One way of managing this resource optimally is to have an The climate of Imo State is humid, semi-hot accurate knowledge of the character of the total equatorial type. The State experiences heavy drainage systems in a particular river Basin; this rainfall, with an average annual rainfall of 2000- may include the area extent, the underlying 2400 mm/yr and an average number of 152 rain/ geology, the total number of streams/rivers and days particularly during the rainy seasons (April– their stream order, bifurcation ratio, time of October) the superficial rainfall distribution is concentration, discharge etc. bimodal, with peaks in July and September and a two weeks break in August. The rainy season The Anambra – Imo River Basin is one of the begins in March and lasts till October or early river basins in Nigeria covering the rivers in November. Rainfall is often at its maximum at Anambra, Imo and Abia States. It has been night and during the early morning hours. The discovered in literature that knowledge of the higher annual rainfall depths and rainfall days rivers and streams in Imo State which make up encourages large volumes of runoff. However, part of the Anambra – Imo River Basin is sketchy variations occur in rainfall amount from year to and sometimes faulty. Onweremadu [1] asserted year, usually between 1,990 mm and 2,200 mm 2 that Otamiri sub-basin is 10,000 km and on an [7]. Relative humidity oscillates between 75% elevation of 152m Many other authors hold this and 90% between the Dry and Rainy seasons. same view [2-5] Some of these authors ( e.g. 4, Temperatures are similar all over the State; the 5]also assert that Otamiri flow into the Atlantic hottest months are January to March, with the Ocean; that Okitankwo River is an offshoot of mean annual temperature above 20°C. Imo River, the basis for these conclusions were not well defined. Furthermore, Okoro et al. [5] Imo State is underlain majorly by the delineated the rivers in the Imo Basin into five sedimentary sequences of the Benin Formation watersheds namely Okigwe watershed, (Miocene to recent), and the Bende-Ameki Mbaise/Mbano watershed, Orlu watershed, Formation (Eocene). The Benin Formation is 2 Amangabara; JGEESI, 3(1): 1-11, 2015; Article no.JGEESI.17114 made up of friable sands with minor tributaries within a given contour elevation intercalations of clay. The sand units are mostly (drainage divide) between two adjacent or coarse –grained, pebbly, poorly sorted, and opposite contours. Lengths and area contain lenses of fine grained sands. In some measurement was done using the Dot Grid areas like Okigwe, impermeable layers of clay method and compared with on screen occur near the surface, while in other areas, the measurement on the GIS interface. soil consists of lateritic material under a superficial layer of fine grained sand. The 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION thickness of the Benin Formation in this area is about 800 m [8,9]. The results generated in the course of this exercise are presented as maps and tables. In terms of relief, Imo State is characterized by three main landform regions: a highland region of 4.1 Sub-Basins in Imo State elevation of 340 m in the northern sections covering Orlu, Ideato, Okigwe and Ihitte-Uboma From the output of the GIS, five sub-drainage local government areas; a moderate elevation of basins were effectively delineated in Imo State about 175 m which covers midway between the that constitutes the Imo Basin of the Anambra- north and the southern sections of the State as Imo River Basin Area namely Upper Orashi, well as the river valleys of the streams that rises Njaba/Lower Orashi, Otamiri, Ogechie and Upper in the highland regions of the State and the Imo. These five river sub-basins are comprised lowland regions in the Southern areas of the of about fifty one rivers, and three lakes (Fig. 4 & State Figs. 2,3,4. Table 1). They drain an average area of about 5,493.768 km2 of Imo State. Each of these 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS watersheds is of different shape and drainage composition. The largest in terms of area drained The following maps were acquired to serve as is Otamiri, although the number of streams in this base maps these include Administrative map of watershed is few compared with Imo River. Imo Imo State (scale 1:1000, 000) from the Imo State River is an oval shaped watershed; it has more Ministry of Land and Survey; Geological Map of tributaries in Imo State, though the area it drains Imo State, Dominant Soil Map of Nigeria, in Imo State is not as large as Otamiri. The Provisional Soil map of Nigeria (simplified) 1952 Drainage Density (Dd) of the study area can best edition, Soil Map of Eastern Nigeria, Scale be described as medium drainage density (or 1:1,000.000 and Soil Map of Nigeria Scale medium texture) with a Dd of 0.21, while the 1:5,000.000, Topographic and relief map of Imo stream frequency is 0.02 and the drainage State from the Anambra – Imo River Basin intensity is 2.00 (Fig.