Durance

The Durance in the department of Vaucluse

The Durance ( Occitan / Provencal Durença or Durènço ) is a river in the Provence- Alpes -Cote d' Azur in southeastern France. It is caused by the confluence of several source streams in a basin of Mont Chenaillet ( 2650 m), in the municipality of Montgenevre, near the Italian border. The Durance drained generally southwest direction and flows after 323 kilometers just south of Avignon as a left tributary of the Rhône. Your upper course forms the boundary between the Cozie Alps in the east and the Dauphiné Alps in the west.

Hydrology

In the upper reaches of the Durance is dammed Lac de Serre- Ponçon since 1961, the largest artificial lake in France. Because of their uneven water flow with some devastating floods it was up to the commissioning of the reservoirs as one of the scourges of Provence. Even below the dam it is still dammed several times, the water is derived by non- navigable canals, such as the Canal de Carpentras, power and irrigation of the many orchards. Particularly striking is a channel of Electricité de France (EDF), which branches off from the river beneath the Lac de Serre- Ponçon, this accompanied in varying distance from power plant to power plant and only at Mallemort, about 30 kilometers from its mouth, branches off to the south and discharges into the marsh.

By Crossed departments

  • Hautes -Alpes
  • Alpes- de -Haute -Provence
  • Vaucluse
  • Bouches -du -Rhône

Tributaries

Left tributaries:

  • Cerveyrette
  • Guil
  • Vachères
  • Ubaye
  • Blanche
  • Sasse
  • Vanson or Vancon
  • Bléone
  • Rancure
  • Aces
  • Verdon
  • Anguillon

Rights tributaries:

  • Clarée
  • Guisane
  • Gyronde
  • Rabioux
  • Avance
  • Luye
  • Buëch
  • Jabron
  • Lauzon
  • Largue
  • Eze
  • Aigue Brun
  • Coulon

Bridges

Hautes -Alpes:

  • Pont de Savines over the Lac de Serre- Ponçon (No. 94) (length: 924 meters)

Alpes- de -Haute -Provence:

  • Old bridge at the Rocher de la Baume in Sisteron
  • Viaduct of the Autoroute A51 south of Sisteron
  • Staudammbrücke L' Escale (No. 85)
  • Railway viaduct of the Route Saint- Auban- Digne
  • Metal truss bridge in Les Mees (department street 4a)
  • Pont de La Brillanne (D 4b)
  • Canal Bridge at Villeneuve
  • Pont de Manosque (D 907)

Intermediate Vaucluse and Bouches -du -Rhône:

  • Viaduct of the A 51 between Beaumont- de -Pertuis and Cadarache
  • Pont de Mirabeau (D 996 )
  • Suspension Bridge from Pertuis
  • Suspension Bridge of Mallemort
  • Viaducts of the LGV Méditerranée in Cavaillon (length: 940, 900 and 1500 meters)
  • Pont de Bonpas (No. 7 and A 7)
  • Suspension bridge at Rognonas (D 970) south of Avignon
  • Railway viaduct of the railway line Paris -Marseille south of Avignon

Water

The Durance has become, since the water supply is sufficient practically all year above the dam a very popular destination for white water sports (rafting, whitewater paddling). Because of the relatively moderate difficulty, the section between L' Argentière- la- Bessée and Embrun is preferred. As the only serious obstacle there is the Rabioux overcome. At L' Argentière- la- Bessée a challenging course for canoe slalom also been installed with a training center in the river. Next above breaks the Durance a ravine in the high range of whitewater difficulty scale. A gorge lying above this section in the lower level of difficulty, which starts at Briançon and ends in Prelles at the weir is also frequently traveled. Above Briançon Durance has a high to extremely severe difficulty, the heaviest and best-known work is the Malafosse Passage. The final small canyon in Briancon is rarely traveled, despite the medium difficulty. In addition to the Durance, the opening into this area tributaries Ubaye, Guil, Gyronde, Guisane and Clarée be very happy to incursions. You are torrents with sometimes extreme difficulty of whitewater difficulty scale. Shortly before flowing into the lake in Embrun, there was a popular training and competition authority ( La Clapière ) for freestyle and playboating, which indeed did not have the high degree of difficulty of Rabioux, but was still well received.

Natural landscape

The Durance crosses a wealth of interesting natural landscapes, although the valley itself is mostly dominated by larger cities, transit areas and industrial estates. The river runs in the upper reaches between the Ecrin National Park and the Regional Natural Park of Queyras. In the lower reaches it is in parts border demarcation to the Regional Natural Park of Verdon, the Luberon Regional Nature Park and the Regional Natural Park of the Alpilles.

Town Italy Cottian Alps Asse (river) Verdon (river) Calavon A51 autoroute Beaumont-de-Pertuis A7 autoroute Whitewater canoeing
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