Mortagne (river)

The Mortagne is a river of Lorraine, born with Taintrux in the solid mass of the High Jacques in the the Vosges and joining the Meurthe with Mount-on-Meurthe after a course of 75 km.

Geography

Mortagne quickly descends the valley steepsided from the Red-Water until Brouvelieures. Starting from Rambervillers, its course becomes very lazy and draws many Méandre S. It sprinkles historical villages such Magnières, Moyen and Gerbéviller and itself was the stake of a battle in 1914.

Affluents

Its principal affluents are, of upstream downstream:

the brook of White Fountain;
the brook of the Hill of Water;
the Arentèle;
Monseigneur;
the Padozel;
Nauve;
the Belvitte;

Hydrology

Mortagne is a rather abundant river, like all the rivers resulting from the southern part of the area Lorraine. Its flow was observed over one 39 years period (1969-2007), with Gerbéviller, locality of the Département of Meurthe-et-Moselle located at ten kilometers upstream of its confluence with the Meurthe with Mount-on-Meurthe. The catchment area of the river is there of 493 km ² (either nearly 85% of its totality which makes 582 km ²).

The interannual medium flow or module of the river with Gerbéviller is of 5,8 m ³ a second.

Mortagne present of the seasonal fluctuations of flow marked well, like very often in Lorraine, and its general hydrological profile resembles that of Meurthe much. It presents high waters of winter carrying the average monthly flow to a level located between 8,36 and 9,84 m ³ a second, from December to March included (with an in January maximum), and low waters of summer, July to September, with a fall of the monthly medium flow up to 2,27 m ³ in August. But the fluctuations are much more marked over short periods.

With the low water level, the VCN3 can fall until 0,77 m ³, in the event of period quinquennial dry, which is rather low, but perfectly normal on the Lorraine plate. Let us recall that the VCN3 is the past minimal quantity or minimal flow over three days consecutive.

As for the risings, they can be important, as it is often the case of other Lorraine rivers like Meurthe, the Madon or the Orne. The QIX 10 or calculated flow of decennial rising is of 110 m ³ a second, the QIX 20 of 130 m ³ and the QIX 50 of 160 m ³. The QIX 2 and QIX 5 are worth as for them respectively 64 and 94 m ³ (see note).

The recorded maximum instantaneous flow was of 235 m ³ a second on October 3rd, 2006, while the value maximum day laborer was of 143 m ³ a second on October 4th of the same year. By comparing the first of these values on a QIX scale clarified higher, it arises that these risings were more abundant than those calculated for a rising cinquantennale, and thus completely exceptional.

On the whole, Mortagne is an abundant river, supplied with such abundant precipitations they, in the zone sipérieure of its basin belonging to the west of the solid mass of the Vosges in particular. The Lame of water past in its catchment area is of 372 millimetres annually, which is rather high, higher than the average overall of France, but lower than the average of the totality of the French basin of the the Moselle (445 millimetres with Hauconcourt, downstream from Metz). The specific Flow of the river (or Qsp) reached the figure of 11,8 liters a second and per square kilometer of basin.

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