Bandiat
The Bandiat in Javerlhac
Waterless Bandiat 5 km upstream of the mouth
The Bandiat is a river in south-west France, which runs in the Limousin, Aquitaine and Poitou- Charentes. It rises in the municipality of La Chapelle- Montbrandeix and ends after 91 kilometers as a left tributary of the Tardoire. Its average gradient of 4.06 m / km.
By Crossed departments
- Haute- Vienne, in the Limousin region
- Dordogne, in the Aquitaine region
- Charente, in the Poitou -Charentes
Places on the river
In the department of Haute- Vienne:
- La Chapelle- Montbrandeix
- Pensol
In Dordogne:
- Abjat -sur- Bandiat
- Nontron
- Javerlhac -et -la -Chapelle -Saint -Robert
In Charente:
Geography and Geology
The Bandiat rises in 440 meters above sea level on the southern slopes of the Puy Chauvet, in the municipality of La Chapelle- Montbrandeix, Haute -Vienne. It flows to the north of the department of Dordogne first to the southwest. From Nontron it changes its flow direction to the northwest and leaves the crystalline rocks of the Massif Central ( granodiorite and paragneiss ) to enter Jurassic limestone formations. From that point on he constantly loses water in karstic cavities of the rock subsoil, so that it takes to be getting wider towards the muzzle, is always narrower. With normal rainfall, he disappears a few kilometers before its confluence with the Tardoire at Agris completely in the Karst of La Rochefoucauld.
However, the amount of water can Bandiat during the year are subject to very large fluctuations, depending on the rainfall. In heavy rains it usually occurs very quickly on the shore, and only at these times he actually reached the Tardoire.
Together with the Tardoire who has also complained of karstic water -related losses, it represents the bulk of the source water of the Touvre, which forms the water reservoir of the city of Angoulême.
Photo Gallery
Weir at Feuillade
Bandiat in Marthon
Gradual seepage at Pranzac