Loire - river in France: description, description

This amazing river for centuries has been one of the most important waterways that led from the very center of France to the world ocean. And it was here that huge ships from the Atlantic passed to the heart of the state. Today this river is navigable, but the road to the center of the country is closed. The largest river in France is Laura.

About two thousand years the river was widely developed shipping. Here, since the 9th century, construction work was carried out to construct dams to protect settlements and for navigational needs. But often dams are not able to keep the powerful currents of a huge unpredictable river (the catastrophe of 1856 and 1866).

Before we talk about it, let us consider what other rivers flow through France.

The rivers of France: a brief description

France has a sufficient amount of hydrological resources. In this country there are no drying lakes and rivers, there is a fairly mild marine warm climate, precipitation falls constantly throughout the year. This, of course, contributes to the fact that the entire water system is almost unchanged.

The complex of natural reservoirs of France includes hundreds of the smallest water bodies and large rivers. But there is a special feature in this country. By the terminology existing in France, rivers (fleuves) are considered to be water bodies that directly flow into the world ocean. And there are 131 of them on the territory of this country, and only 10 of them (the Loire, the Rhine, the Rhône, the Maas, the Garonne, the Seine, the Charente, the Dordogne, the Scheldt and the Adour) have a length of more than 300 km. And the basins of all these rivers occupy more than 400 thousand square kilometers of the territory of the whole state (more than 70%).

These rivers of France are the main catchments. The volume of water consumption at the mouths has the following values (in cubic meters per second): Loire - 931, Rhine - 2300, Rhone - 1690, Maas - 400, Garonne - 650, Sena - 563, Charente - 49, Dordogne - 380, Schelda - 104 and Adour - 350. Their total annual collection of water in the total mass is about 40-45% of the total annual volume throughout France. Approximately 33-34% are rivers flowing into the seas: Rhône, Loire, Dordogne, Seine, Garonne, Adour and Charente. The reservoirs that leave water within France are the Meuse, the Rhine and the Scheldt.

The Loire River: parameters

It flows into the Atlantic Ocean in France. The river Loire has a length of 1020 kilometers. The map shows that it really is the longest. Its pool covers an area of more than 115,000 square meters. Km, which represents more than 20% of the territory of continental France, and therefore it is the most important and significant river in the country.

Waterway

Its origin Loire takes near a small village, called Saint-Elali (in the department of Ardeche), is located in the east of the Central French Massif. The height of this place is 1408 meters above sea level.

The river in France on its way crosses the northern and eastern slopes of the massif, then falls on the site of the Paris basin (the lowlands of the North-French). In these places, the current velocity drops sharply, and it turns into a fairly calm river, flowing along the plain with shoals and caves. On its shores are numerous cities in France, such as Roanne, Orleans, Angers, Nevers, Blois, Tours and Nantes. The city on the Loire Saint-Nazaire is a point of confluence into the Atlantic Ocean.

The path of the great river originally runs from south to north to the city of Orleans, after which it turns from east to west to the city of Nantu. Then the river carries its waters to the Atlantic Ocean itself, no longer changing its direction.

Relief

Loire is a river, originating on a rocky ledge (volcanic), which is called Gerbier de Jón (department of Ardeche, within the Velay and Vivara). Approximately 150 kilometers from the Mediterranean takes the meridian direction to the north.

The mountain river flows with great speed over a rather uneven terrain between the huge granite boulders of the Central Massif. She overcomes the mountains of the Velay crystalline structure (there are numerous passes in them) and the mountains near Butier, in Forêt, Beaujolais, Lyon and Madeleine.

Loire: regime of the river, cataclysms

In the autumn and winter periods the river is replenished with Mediterranean showers and oceanic sediments, and in the springtime melting of snow and oceanic rains. In the summer, the reservoir is quite poor in water. With what it is connected, we will consider further.

These places are characterized by unexpected changes in climatic conditions, which significantly affects the state of the river. In a fairly dry summer, Loire strongly changes. And sharp climatic deviations often reach rather catastrophic values. There are various natural phenomena. Autumn tornadoes of the Mediterranean occurred in October and September, respectively, in 1846 and 1866, heavy ocean showers (winters in 1910 and 1936) and prolonged spring rains in combination with a sudden sudden melting of snow (early summer of 1856).

River tributary

The Loire has the main tributary (from the left bank) - the river Allier. Its length is 421 km, water flow is on average 140 m³ / s. More than 14 300 km² - the area of the pool.

Water in Allia has the lowest level in the summer (July to September). Its source is also located in the Central Massif. The direction of the river is mainly northern. On the banks stretches one of the most beautiful French cities - the Moulin (the capital of the eponymous department).

This river is unique in that in its waters in the natural environment lives fish - freshwater grayling.

Medieval towers, sights

The Loire Valley has a huge variety of beautiful ancient architectural structures: castles, palaces, ancient cities and so on. They carry in themselves the fascinating centuries-old history of remarkable France.

Medieval towers once witnessed a variety of military events. Subsequently, turning into beautiful buildings, they became magnificent centers of culture and art (they listened to great music, watched beautiful paintings, demonstrated wonderful theatrical performances, composed and read poems, novels, etc.). This is the most wonderful, almost fabulous valley.

The main castles of these amazing places are Amboise, Lange, Chenonceau, Azay-le-Rideau, Blois, Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chambord and Valance. The magnificent Loire Valley, located between Chalon and Sully-sur-Loire, was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

It is not for nothing that the Loire is a river that is also called the royal river, and its valley is the royal garden of France, or the wedding dress of the country.

It should be noted that, unfortunately, incorrectly carried out works on cleaning the bottom of the Loire were the reasons for the destruction of the remarkable ancient architectural structure - Bridge Tour (1978).

Importance of the river for the country

The river for France is important in many areas. Mainly the Loire is a river (as is the Rhone river), which is of great importance in the production of energy for the country. Two fences have also been built on its territory (at the highest basin): Nossan and Willrest (the Aljo River basin), which today are mainly used to cool nuclear reactors located in four locations in France.

In addition, the river is connected by a large number of canals to the Seine (Nivere and Briarsky), to the Sona (Central) River, from the river. Cher (Berry). The reservoir is navigable only upstream along Nantes.

It should also be noted that the Loire is a river that promotes the development of agriculture and tourism.

In conclusion about the features of the basin

Thresholds in this river wander from year to year. In the spring, when the Loire is filled with a large amount of meltwater from a large area of the basin, its shallows are "wandering" under the influence of a huge mass of water. There is their transfer by force of water to other places, and most of the new shallows appear on the river turning places, where the flow velocity falls.

After the thawed waters descend, the Loire again returns to its former shores. You can find that the shoals are in other places, and not where they were in the previous year. It turns out that the river in France every year is small, but it changes its configuration on corners.

The river also has a peculiar nature of the current. Due to the large territory of the Loire catchment area in its lower reaches, it is often unpredictable. Often there are sudden floods due to the passage of long rains in the continental part of France, after which the tributaries of the Loire bring in its channel large volumes of water.

Therefore, it is not unusual for the amount of water flow at the mouth of the river to increase dramatically to 7,000 m ³ / s (the period of floods). And a sharp drop in water levels is also not uncommon in these places. In 1976, in the area of the city of Orleans, a record was recorded: the water flow then amounted to only 22.4 m ³ (the usual average flow in this place is 400 m ³ ).