Charente (river)

The Charente (in Saintongeais Chérente , in Occitan Charanta ) is a Fleuve French which takes its source with Chéronnac in the High-Vienna with 240 meters of altitude. It crosses then the department S of the Vienna, the Charente and the Charente-Maritime.

Etymology

The word Charente would derive from the Gaulois Carantona whose significance remains obscure (perhaps to bring closer to onna , the wave).

Charente gave its name:

with the Department of Charente;
with the Department of the Charente-Maritime, which bore until in 1941 the name of Charente-Lower because of its position on the river.
with the Charente-native , slipper of felt originating in the area of Charente.

Geography

Departments, cities and communes crossed

the Department of High-Vienna.
the Department of Vienna, 10 communes and towns of Charroux and Civray.
the Department of Charente, 78 communes and towns of Mansle, Hinge-Pontouvre, Angouleme, Châteauneuf-on-Charente, Jarnac, Cognac.
the Department of the Charente-Maritime, 35 communes and Holy towns of , Port-with Envaux, Saint-Savinien, Tonnay-Charente, Rochefort.

Course

It course 376 km including 224 in Charente. Of its source to its mouth distant of 160 km, it doubles almost its course because of its meanders. It is divided into several arms in various points what creates islands, the majority in floodplain. It throws in the Atlantic Ocean downstream and to the south of Rochefort. Its catchment area is of 10.549 km ².

Its course begins on the western part of the Massif Central, the the Limousin with the base of impermeable crystalline rocks. It takes its source with Chéronnac in the High-Vienna with 240 meters of altitude, and runs towards the North-West on 12 km to enter in Charente to the Lac of Lavaud, retained water dating from construction in 1990 of the dam Lavaud. Its Affluent, Trèze, also comes to enlarge the Lac of Lavaud. A little later it receives Left bank the Moulde carrying the stopping of the Farmhouse Chaban builds in 1889. The Lac of the Farmhouse-Chaban is fed by Moulde grown bigger of Cluzeau, the Farmhouse of Lépi, Turlut and directly on left bank of the lake of the Small Bridge. It continues in its north-western direction to enter in Vienna, to receive Right Bank Transon, to reach Charroux located on its affluent Right Bank Merdanéon and to transfer in the west towards Civray then in the south and to return in Charente after 47 km in Vienna. Its course is then full south with Méandre S and it crosses Condac, Verteuil-on-Charente, Bayers then Mansle. Before Mansle it receives left bank the Its - Bell passed by Saint-Claud and the Bonnieure passed by Chasseneuil-on-Bonnieure which cast solid west since Roumazières-Loubert and Tardoire grown bigger of Bandiat which, born in High-Vienna went up north-western by Montbron and Rochefoucauld. Of its source until Mansle (alt. 55 m), the slope were strong with uneven of 185 m out of 127 km.

Then on 130 km until the Port-of-Lily, downstream from Cognac (alt. 5 m), the slope are the weak and river described of broad meanders. After a small turning towards the west and to have received the Aume, it sets out again towards the South and by Montignac-Charente, Vars, Vindelle, Balzac, Saint-Yrieix-on-Charente and Hinge-Pontouvre arrives at Angouleme. In Angoumois, Charente and its affluents cross plates generating limestones fissured of pits and resurgences. The Sources of Touvre supplied with underground rivers coming from the Karst of Rochefoucauld are the more important second Résurgence in France. Water comes primarily from the losses of the Bandiat and the Tardoire. To a lesser extent one finds there water of the Bonnieure and Scale. The cause of resurgence is the Faille of the Scale where a 500 m thickness of marnes of the Kimméridgien lower impermeable bar the road than the underground flow of water and obliges them to go back to surface.

The network of river of its catchment area (10 549 km ²) is of 6.000 km.

Principal affluents

It has like affluents:

Left bank:

the Moulde carrying the stopping of the Farmhouse-Chaban
Lisonne
the Argentor
the Its
the Argence
the Tardoire, enlarged Bonnieure and Bandiat
the Touvre
the Anguienne
clear water
the Charreau
the Boëme
the Born
the Seugne
the Arnoult

Right Bank:

Transon
Péruse
the Aume, grown bigger Seam
the Nouère
the Soloire
the Fossé of Roy
the Antenne
the Coran
Bourru
the Bramerit
the Buttons
the enlarged Currency of the Gères

Hydrology

The flow of Charente measured with Vindelle (Angouleme) goes from 1m/s in low water level brought back now to 3m/s by lâchers of reserves of the lakes of Farmhouse-Chaban and Lavaud to 630 m/s to the maximum of believed of December 1982. The annual medium flow with Saintes is of 140m/s with in September an average minimum of 80m/s and in January an average maximum of 210m/s.

Reserves of support of low water level

Two stoppings support the flow of Charente when the levels reach their level of low water level: the Lake Lavaud and Lake of the Farmhouse-Chaban the purpose of which is to guarantee a minimum flow in order to preserve the river ecosystem and to satisfy the requirements out of water, drinking water but also water for the farmers irrigants. The Institution interdépartementale of the Charente river and its affluents, is the owner building and a " protocol of management of water of Charente" was signed in 1992 then was integrated in SDAGE Adour-Garonne (Management and Master development plan of Water).

The flow of the Charente is measured at the station of Vindelle and the objective is there to maintain a D.E.O. (flow of objective of low water level) of 3 m/s. This one which knew falls up to 1 m/s should not any more go down to the lower part of 2,5 m/s.

Raw S and Flood S

The risings are seasonal and of raw of great width are frequent causing floods. The area keeps to remember it those of 1882, 1904, 1910, 1937, 1952, 1966, 1982, 1994 and 2000. They last a long time: 1 month in 1982, more in 2000-2001.

If the floods are wide, it is because the minor bed of the river narrow, not very deep, is quickly saturated and that it overflows then; as the major bed is flat and impermeable, water extends on all the valley. And if the floods take a long time to regress, it is due to a very weak slope and the effect of the tide what slows down the résorbtion of the flood. The floodplains are for 82% from the surface cultivateds, 16% of the natural zones or the wetlands and 2% of the urban areas or activities (860 ha including 95 ha with Angouleme, 53 ha with Cognac, 135 ha with Saintes, Rochefort being especially exposed at the maritime risk). At the time of believed of December 1982, it passed 630 m/s under the bridges of Angouleme and 815 m/s under the bridges the Holy ones. Whereas alarm is in Angouleme to +3,60 m, the rising reached the dimension of +6,82 m (and in Saintes + 6,99 m).

It was set up a PAPI (and prevention action plan of the floods) copilot by the State and the Institution of the Charente river which is a EPTB (territorial public corporation of basin). Studies were undertaken and of the projects are in hand or already in activity. The service of forecast of believed for the basin of Charente announces the risings and their arrival since the upstream. Indeed, the wave of rising puts 24 H to go from Mansles to Angouleme then 48 H to reach Holy. That makes it possible to pre-empt and act the affluents by opening all the works to empty them before the rising then to close them partially so that a contribution of the affluents does not come to worsen the rising of the river. That allows also an alarm and to evacuate the floodplains (in particular vehicles and building sites). The silting of Charente upstream of Saint-Savinien is a factor worsening the floods and the clearing out should reduce their level by 5 to 10 cm in Saintes. It is also considered channels, put out of water only at the time them raw, to cut three of the meanders downstream from Saintes, between the bridge Palissy and Bussac. Various works which blocked the flow of the river were modified, like the projection of quay to the bridge the Holy ones. Finally the restoration of marsh, sites of storage in natural zones on the affluents are being studied, those already programmed are on the Soloire, the Antenne and the Seugne upstream. And the Agency of Basin Adour-Garonne must intervene in the restoration of the wetlands.

Tide S

The amplitude of the tides which is of 6,50 m to the mouth is not any more that of 5,4 m with Rochefort then the stopping of Saint-Savinien mitigates his effect. A statement of March 19th, 1973 shows a reduction in range of the tide starting from the 4,14 m of Rochefort and 3,98 m with Tonnay-Charente, for still 1,80 m with Saint-Savinien, 0,80 m with Taillebourg and 0,18 m with Holy. The ebb lasts longer than the flood.

The fresh water brought by Charente mixes with sea water in the estuary in position more or less swallows according to the flows of Charente and height of the tides what causes variations of salinity. This variation is characteristic of the zone of the sluices and the ostreiculture of the basin of Marenne oyster-Oléron is bathed by this water freed of salt.

History

A long human occupation

The men of Néandertal lived along the affluents of the Charente, of approximately 230.000 years BP with their extinction. Prénéandertaliens were found on the site of Montgaudier on the Tardoire close to Montbron, on the site of the Chair (the Suard cave delivered bones of children), and on the site workshop of Fontéchevade. Very many néandertaliens lived in Charente, in the cave of Rochelot with Saint-Lover-with-Bonnieure, in the valley of Water-Clear very close to Angouleme, on Right Bank of Voulton to the site of Quina, close to Villebois-Lavalette to Guards-the-Pontaroux, which delivered the fossil remainders of 27 néandertaliens, adults and children, in the cave with Melon close to Châteauneuf-on-Charente and in Charente-Maritime with Rock-with-Pierrot, close to Saint-Césaire, which delivered in 1979 a skeleton néandertalien associated with a whole of tools Châtelperronien. In this area, the néandertaliens were probably contemporary of the first Homo sapiens .

On the Tardoire, the Cellar with Vilhonneur is a cavity decorated with paintings of the paleolithic one; the Chauvet cave, close to the confluence of the Antenna with Charente, delivered more than 100 tools and 200 objects, Biface S, points, Racloir S allotted to the Moustérien of tradition acheuléenne and the pulpit with Calvin with Mouthiers-on-Boëme a Abri-sous-roche and a low-relief magdalénien.

Charente was already navigable with the age of iron and was used for transport of the salt. The discovery of dugouts monoxyles gives the proof of it. The seaport of the Santons was with its mouth which was then a very deep estuary and very cut out. Holy, Cognac and Jarnac were important Gallo-Roman ports. Ausone celebrates Charente and to the Roman chroniclers testify to an important river traffic. Ptolémée at the 2nd century traces the coordinates of the " portus Santonum" , the seaport of Santones to the mouth of the river.

The terns (tern pierregarin), the guifettes (Guifette moustac and Guifette black), the gulls (Black-headed gull), the Large Cormorant, go up per periods very upstream on the river.

There are also peaks (Torcol fourmilier), raptors (osprey, peregrine falcon), Martin-pêcheur, Gorgebleue with mirror, reeds of the snap rings, and corncrakes in addition to all the current species which, they, are not classified remarkable.

. The maintenance of their number and their diversity required actions: the maintenance of water quality by avoiding pollution, the muddy stoppers, enrichments in nutrients, the eutrophication and the maintenance of the habitats and the Spawning ground S by reconstitution of the gravel funds and the plantation of rypisylve adapted. For the migrating species of the " master keys with poissons" were realized on many works, in order to circumvent the physical obstacles with their freedom of movement.

The Alose S are regarded as good indicators of the biological and physical quality of the rivers. One finds the Allis shad until Montignac-Charente with spawning grounds of Saint-Savinien to Cognac, and the pretended alose Alosa fallax until Ruffec with Cognac spawning grounds with Fleurac.

Salmonidés, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout or common trout (Salmo trutta trutta) which historically went up until Civray, Chief-Button, Matha, are not also present. One finds sea trouts on Buttons, the Antenna, Tardoire and Charente would be nothing any more but one passage to reach spawning grounds upstream.

The lamprey goes up until Voulême in the Département of Vienna and even Civray and on the portions downstream of the Boutonne, the Né and the Antenne where one finds Lamproie To plane (Lampetra planeri) and River lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis). The spawning grounds are around Saintes and of Cognac. The marine lamprey remains in low river, close to the estuary.

The eel (Anguilla anguilla) is present on the whole of Charente but the populations are in regression what can be due to the water pollution but also to a too intense fishing in the estuary. .

Fish

Fishing is a leisure very practiced throughout the river and of the water levels. In Charente, one counts 600 km of river, 900 km in 2e category and 265 ha of water level and Charente-Maritime, 310 km of river and 2240 km of rivers and channels of 2nd category, 50 ha of and storage reservoir water level, 30 km of banks for the fishing, to which fishing is added on the estuary.

Tourism

River tourism, it is the whole of the activities of leisures, visits and discoveries carried out on and around the river and of its affluents; the development of this river tourism must preserve the natural environment.

The Charente Lakes High represent nearly 400 hectares of fresh water in natural valleys of the buttresses limousins of the Massif Central.

The upstream part of the river and its affluents, allow fishing, canoeing, the observation of nature and the discovery of sites and works related to the river, in particular the mills.

Broad, sinuous and navigable in its downstream part, the Charente river, allows, in addition to the activities of navigation (gabarres, boats of hiring), of many water sports (oar, canoe-kayak, water skiing, veil on the water levels as in Saint-Yrieix, on the lakes and in the estuary).

Tow paths and footpaths, whose GR4, located in edge of the rivers allow rambles, in the bicycle or with horse from Angouleme to Rochefort.

Sports activities

Notes and references of the article

documents

documents of the institution of the Charente river *le Charente river and its affluents, chart of the environment, EPTB Charente

To deepen

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