Tonlé Sap

See also: Sap

The Tonlé Sap (what means in Khmer “large river of fresh water”, but that one more frequently translates by “big lake”) is a hydrological system combining Lac and Rivière, of an major importance for the Kampuchea. The lake is more the big lake of fresh water of Southeast Asia and a site of first importance from the ecological point of view, recognized as a Biosphère UNESCO in 1997. It is located not far from the historic site of Angkor Vat. The river connects the lake to the Mekong, river which it joined with Phnom Penh, the capital of the country.

The lake occupies a depression created by the geological constraint caused by the collision of the Indian Sous-continent and the Asia.

An astonishing hydrological phenomenon

Surface of the lake during the dry season, of almost 2 700 km ² for a depth of approximately a meter, are seen almost multiplied by six when the rains of Mousson arrive. Indeed, the Mekong is then into raw (because of monsoon and of the cast iron of the ices himalayiennes) and the river which connects it to the lake reverses its course. It is estimated whereas the surface of the lake can reach with 16 000 km ² and its depth nine meters. In volume, that represents a multiplication by a factor 70.

The inversion of the course of Tonlé Sap acts like a Valve of safety which restricts the risk of flood downstream.

An ecosystem of richest

At the time of its rising, the lake invades the neighbouring forests and fields. The ecosystem of Tonlé Sap is thus recognized like an ecosystem of flooded Forêt. The seasonal flood creates an ideal medium for the reproduction of the Poisson S, so that some 200 species are indexed there. A true providence for the three million Kampuchean living in the area. Tonlé Sap is indeed one of the most productive fresh water fishing zones of the world, providing more 75 % of the annual volume of fresh water fishing of the country and 60 % of the contribution in Protein S of the Kampuchean population. At the end of the rain season, the river finds its normal course and the fish is carried downstream. The lake and its fish also allowing the refuge of about fifteen large species Bird X in process of extinction.

Downward water leaves rich person nutritive deposits of Sédiment in the area, which in fact a ground favourable with agriculture for the remainder of the year.

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