[3] Similar names are found in the names of many rivers in the Western Alps: Dora in Italy, Dranse in Haute-Savoie, and the Drôme in south-eastern France. Durant la mĂŞme pĂŠriode, d'importants travaux d'endiguement furent d'abord motivĂŠs par la nĂŠcessitĂŠ de mettre un terme aux dĂŠgats provoquĂŠs par les crues rĂŠcurrentes de la rivière : ainsi, un proverbe d'Ancien RĂŠgime citait la Durance parmi les trois flĂŠaux de la Provence. La Durance fournit 75% de l'eau consommée en PACA. La Durance aurait pu porter le nom de Clarée ! ), 3. The river only runs through the towns of Briançon and Sisteron — built where the banks are very steep — the other towns are built on slopes close to the river: The Durance catchment area extends to three other departments: Var, Drôme and Alpes-Maritimes. Comme elle, ses principaux affluents, la Clarée, le Fournel, l'Ubaye, le Buëch, l'Asse, la Bléone, Le Verdon, prennent leur source dans les Alpes du Sud. Plus grand barrage d'Europe avec une hauteur de 120 mètres et une basse de 600 mètres d'ĂŠpaisseur, Serre-Ponçon utilise son propre poids pour rĂŠsister Ă  une partie de la pression. ), les apports des affluents en aval du barrage de Serre-Ponçon et le ÂŤ dĂŠbit rĂŠservĂŠ Âť par ÉlectricitĂŠ de France : celui-ci a constamment augmentĂŠ depuis 1961 et devrait doubler d'ici 2050. LA SOURCE DE LA DURANCE Prenant sa source à 2 300 mètres d’altitude, à Montgenèvre, la Durance déroule ensuite ses flots sur 324 kilomètres pour se jeter enfin, dans le Rhône à Avignon. La Durance est une rivière du Sud-Est de la France se jetant dans le Rhône, dont elle est le deuxième affluent après la Saône pour la longueur et le troisième après la Saône et l’Isère pour le débit. The silt in the river bed has become stabilised by vegetation and this also reduces the flow. Passer en plein cran en pressant la touche F11 de votre clavier. The Latin form drou ("hard") changed into the proto-Occitan "dur". Il n’y a pas à proprement parler une source de la Durance. [31] Avian diversity increased after the dams were built, but there was probably once a greater diversity. Beyond Sisteron further rivers and streams join the Durance: Jabron, Vançon, Bléone near Les Mées and from the Asse (river) a few kilometres to the south of Oraison. The only durable fords are those of Mirabeau and Pertuis, obviously unusable in periods of floods. The Durance is documented in Ancient Greek as drouentios potamos and in Latin as Druentia (1st century), Durantia (854, 1271) and Durentia (1127). Son contrĂ´le, qui vise Ă  assurer les besoins en eau et en ĂŠlectricitĂŠ tout en luttant contre les ĂŠtiages et les crues, est assurĂŠ par un ensemble d'ouvrages gĂŠrĂŠs par ÉlectricitĂŠ de France. Son embouchure dans le Rhône se trouve à Avignon, préfecture du Vaucluse. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is 323.2 km (200.8 mi) long. Rail viaduct for the old Paris - Marseille line south of Avignon. 300.000 – 120.000 ans. Water quality is considered good in the higher valley, in spite of the number of dams, which deprive the Durance of the power needed to carry sediment away. Vous avez la permission de copier, distribuer et/ou modifier ce document selon les termes de la Licence de documentation libre GNU, version 1.2 ou plus rĂŠcente publiĂŠe par la Free Software Foundation ; sans sections inaltĂŠrables, sans texte de première page de couverture et sans texte de dernière page de couverture. La Durance prend sa source à 2 390 mètres d'altitude, au pré de Gondran, sur les pentes du sommet des Anges . Its source is in the south-western Alps, in Montgenèvre ski resort near Briançon and it flows south-west through the following departments and cities: The Durance's largest tributary is the Verdon. Dams have also long been used for irrigation. There were two groups of utriculari, one in Sisteron and one in Riez. When the flow is low, most of the water in the river now flows in "industrial channels" which by-pass the natural course of the river to run through hydro-electric power stations. Its descent is unusually rapid at 81 m/km (165 ft/mi) in its first 12 km (7.5 mi), then 15 m/km (30 ft/mi) to its confluence with the Gyronde,[7] and then still nearly 8 m/km (16 ft/mi) to the confluence with the Ubaye. The valley widens still further into an alluvial plain several kilometres wide (5 kilometres (3.1 mi) near Manosque). In the Middle Ages, the county of Forcalquier stretched all along the Durance, from Cavaillon to La Roche-de-Rame, close to Embrun. [34] The European brook lamprey has been seen in recent times but it may have disappeared since.[35]. Les affluents de la Durance sont Ă  dominante salmonicole avec un peuplement faible. There are several dams along the middle part of the Durance. [44] This ferry at Cadenet and one at Mirabeau were used to transport flocks of sheep for seasonal migrations. This division allows surveying and mapping of the land at risk.[49]. In 1955, the law defined the EDF Durance-Verdon project had three objectives: Over 40 years, this project required the construction of 23 dams and water extraction points starting upstream of Claux sur Argentiere down to Mallemort and the supply of 33 hydroelectric power stations and several control stations.[27]. The unstable and sometimes steep banks prevented easy access to ferries. À partir de la retenue, un canal bĂŠtonnĂŠ, dit ÂŤ canal de la Durance Âť ou ÂŤ canal E.D.F. At Cadarache an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, ITER, is under construction. La Durance est physiquement un affluent de la Clarée dont le bassin versant a une plus grande superficie (190km2 contre 14km2 pour la Durance). Au Quaternaire, après avoir ĂŠtĂŠ captĂŠe par un affluent du Coulon, son cours fut dĂŠtournĂŠ vers le RhĂ´ne, qu'elle joint aujourd'hui non loin d'Avignon. Otters have recently become extinct in the entire catchment area. Currently there are between 150 and 200 species of benthic macroinvertebrates,[30] but with few plant species (due to the greatly changing flow of the river). C'est l'arbre de vie de la Provence. Cecile Miramont, Denis Furestier, Guy Barruol, Catherine Lonchambon, This page was last edited on 23 September 2020, at 03:27. Among the painters to have represented it are Guigou and Monticelli, close friends, who settled in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance and made many paintings where it appears, either as background, or as subject (86 of the 421 paintings by Guigou). Its total drainage area is 14,225 square kilometres (5,492 sq mi). The existence of a bridge at Sisteron was recorded. [17], The catastrophic floods of 1843, 1856, 1886 attained 5,000 to 6,000 cubic metres per second (180,000 to 210,000 cu ft/s)[18] For comparison, the Seine flooding of 1910 was estimated at approximately 2,400 cubic metres per second (85,000 cu ft/s). It is also depicted beneath a sculpture of a pregnant woman in Charleval, Bouches-du-Rhône. Average monthly discharge (m 3 /s) at Saint-Paul-lès-Durance Course [ change | change source ] The Durance starts in the pré de Gondran (" meadow of Gondran"), on the east side of the Sommet des Anges mountain , in the commune of Montgenèvre (a ski resort near Briançon ), Hautes-Alpes department, at an elevation of about 2,325 m (7,628 ft). The volume of water flowing through the canal is 10 cubic metres per second (350 cu ft/s) with the slope of 0.36 metres per kilometre (1.9 ft/mi). La plus importante rivière de Provence, la Durance, y prend sa source à 2390 mètres d'altitude sur les pentes du sommet des Anges, au pré de Gondran. Les principaux affluents de la Durance sont : Parmi ces derniers, le Verdon a fait l'objet d'un amĂŠnagement hydroĂŠlectrique simultanĂŠ Ă  celui de la basse Durance sur son cours moyen et infĂŠrieur. Toutefois, le lit actuel tend Ă  se fixer et sa largeur s'est considĂŠrablement rĂŠduite. [41], This trade fed the activity of an important port, near to the crossroads at Sisteron, at the place called 'Le Bourguet'. It sometimes needed several ferries to cross the various arms or channels. The latter's tributaries bring rain water mainly in spring, autumn and winter but little during the summer. Depuis la fin des annĂŠes 1980, 36 espèces de poissons ont ĂŠtĂŠ recensĂŠes au total lors de l'ensemble des opĂŠrations d'ĂŠchantillonage, parmi lesquelles truites, brochets, carpes et barbots dominent. [7], At Mirabeau, the lowest flow was 27 cubic metres per second (950 cu ft/s) (during the drought of 1921) i.e. De façon générale, nous utilisons les informations que vous nous fournissez pour la gestion et le développement de notre activité. Bernard Amouretti, “However, the valley of the Durance was always an axis of passage”, Direction of the environment, of sustainable development and agriculture, Jean-Paul Clébert and Jean-Pierre Rouyer, "La Durance", Privat, Toulouse, 1991, in the collection. Mais ces aménagements et les prélèvements dans cette belle rivière ont des conséquences écologiques aggravées par le dérèglement climatique. Its direction changes from southerly to westerly then northwesterly, aligning with the small Provençal mountain ranges between which it flows (Alpilles and Luberon). The Durance provides today two-thirds of the water for the city of Marseilles. 02:00. La baignade est interdite en moyenne et basse Durance et la pèche y est règlementĂŠe. Les sources se trouvent en contrebas de l’ancien fort du Gondran, sur la commune de Montgenèvre , dans le département français des Hautes-Alpes, près de la frontière italienne. C'est dans le Briançonnais, à Montgenèvre, que la Durance prend sa source. Certaines espèces sont faiblement reprĂŠsentĂŠes : bouvières, rotengles et loches de rivière. [40] At other places there were ferries, in particular at Pertuis,[citation needed] whose name is based on it ferry. NĂŠanmoins, son cours constituait aussi une voie majeure reliant les Alpes Ă  la Basse-Provence : Ă  ce titre, la Voie Domitienne romaine suivait son lit jusqu'aux Alpes pour desservir la Narbonnaise. [19] Even lesser floods were devastating. Here the river was diverted for the development of modern agriculture and the construction of the A51 motorway. [8] For comparison, at approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) from its source, the Isère is at 330 metres (1,080 ft) altitude and the Durance at 700 metres (2,300 ft), which contributes partially to its fast-flowing nature, including in the lower part of the river. Ludwigia, the primose willow, is an invasive plant having gradually spread since 1986 in the stagnant water in dead gravel pits and ponds. Options . La Durance est une voie de communication importante et ancienne . At first they were often boxes of wood filled up of stones, but these do not resist the floods for long. D' Espinasses à Venterol, c'est aussi le berceau de la Route des Fruits et des Vins. At the confluence with the Rhône, the average natural flow of the Durance is approximately 190 cubic metres per second (6,700 cu ft/s), with a high annual variability. There are approximately 75 species of mammals in the Durance catchment area, including: Eurasian beaver, southwestern water vole, Eurasian water shrew, many species of bat (barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus, large murine (Myotis myotis), large rhinolophe (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), minioptère of Schreibers (Miniopterus schreibersi), small murine (Myotis blythii), small rhinolophe (Rhinolophus hipposideros), vespertilion with indented ears (Myotis emarginatus), and vespertilion of Capaccini (Myotis capaccinii)). Although it was difficult to cross, except in Sisteron, the Durance was nevertheless navigable. La Durance, de part ses fortes variabilités saisonnières, ses débits et l'intensité de ses débordements, fût jusque dans les années 1960 et la construction du barrage de Serre-Ponçon, une rivière périlleuse tant pour sa navigation que pour sa traversée. De nos jours, le canal de Marseille n’est plus l’unique source d’approvisionnement de la ville en eau potable, il y contribue pour près de 70%.Le canal de Provence, construit dans les années 1970, en fournit le tiers restant, en puisant dans le Verdon.. Parmi les accidents gĂŠologiques qui ont dĂŠterminĂŠ le tracĂŠ actuel du cours de la Durance, il faut citer l'enfoncement de la rivière dans le Gapençais, dans la barre de Sisteron et enfin dans l'anticlinal de Mirabeau oĂš la cluse de la Durance atteint 300 mètres de profondeur. Sources de la Durance. gravel banks, brought by the floods, and generally without or with little vegetation; sand and silt banks, which can be highly fertile for plants like willow. Dans le lit naturel, il reste aujourd'hui les rejets des canaux d'irrigation secondaires Ă  vocation agricole (leur alimentation est faite par le canal E.D.F. The Durance is the second longest (after the Saône) of the tributaries of the Rhône and the third largest in terms of its flow (after the Saône and Isère). The width across the surface of the canal is 9.4 metres (31 ft), and 3 metres (9.8 ft) at its base. Twelve million years ago, the Durance flowed directly into the Mediterranean. The few factories that used the river's energy have closed (an aluminium factory at L'Argentière-la-Bessée) or are being closed (Arkema at Saint-Auban). Montgenèvre fait partie des plus anciennes stations de ski de France. Née sur les confins de l'Italie, au Chenaillet, près du col de Montge… The period of increased flooding was not only due to the cooling starting from the 14th and until the 19th century (with increased rain and snowfall), but also because the major deforestation of the slopes of the mountains of the basin of the Durance, starting from the 16th century. This is a list of rivers longer than 20 kilometres (12 mi) that flow into the Durance. The upper Durance is an alpine river with a flow ranging from 18 to 197 cubic metres per second (640 to 6,960 cu ft/s). 7km +415m/-408m. Jean-Paul Clébert and Jean-Pierre Rouyer, the Durance, Pri , Toulouse, 1991, in the Rivières collection and valleys of France.