Vecchio

The Vecchio (in Corsican U Vechju ) is a French Rivière of Haute-Corse which is an affluent of the Tavignano.

Geography

It takes its source in the forest of Vizzavona, between Goes up of Oro and Punta di Directs it, and moves towards north. After a course of 24 kilometers, it is thrown in Tavignano a little downstream from the locality of Venaco.

The catchment area of Vecchio, very wooded, entirely forms part of the Regional natural park of Corsica. Its valley is extremely picturesque.

Hydrology

Vecchio is a river extremely abundant, but very irregular, as many Mediterranean rivers. Its flow was observed during one 49 years period (1959-2007), with the bridge of Noceta with Venaco, locality of the department of the Haute-Corse located at the level of its confluence with the Tavignano. The catchment area of the river is of 147 km ².

The interannual medium flow or module of the river with Venaco is of 4,73 m ³ a second.

Vecchio presents seasonal fluctuations of flow marked well. The high waters are held end of the autumn at the end of spring and are characterized by average monthly flows going from 6,03 to 7,59 m ³ a second, from November to May included (with an in April maximum). In June the medium flow strongly plunges, which carries out right to the low waters of summer, which take place from July to September and are accompanied by a fall of the monthly medium flow going up to 0,61 m ³ in August. But the fluctuations of flow can be much more marked over moreover short periods or according to the years.

With the low water level, the VCN3 can fall until 0,160 m ³, in the event of dry period quinquennial, that is to say 160 liters a second, which is not excessively severe (see note).

As for the risings, they can be extremely important relative with the modest size of the river and its catchment area. The QIX 2 and QIX 5 are worth respectively 180 and 270 m ³ a second. The QIX 10 or calculated flow of decennial rising is of 330 m ³ a second, the QIX 20 of 390 m ³, while the QIX 50 is assembled to step less than 460 m ³ a second (see note).

To have an idea of the importance of these flows, one can compare them with those of an affluent of the Seine in the west of Paris, the the Eure (in Louviers), which rolls on average 26,2 m ³ on a territory of 5 935 km ². The QIX 10 of the Eure at the end of the course is worth 96 m ³ (against 330 for Vecchio) and its QIX 50 is assembled to 130 m ³ (against 460 for Vecchio). Thus in spite of a less wide basin more or less forty times and a medium flow five times less, the volume of believed of Vecchio are more than three times superior to the volume of those of the Eure.

The recorded maximum instantaneous flow with Venaco during this period, was of 731 m ³ a second on October 25th, 1976, while the value maximum day laborer was of 220 m ³ a second on February 18th, 1972. By comparing the first of these values on a QIX scale of the river, it appears clearly that this rising largely higher than raw the cinquantennale was defined by the QIX 50, and thus completely exceptional.

On the whole, Vecchio is an extremely abundant river, strongly supplied with strong precipitations of its small basin. The Lame of water past in this last is of 1 018 millimetres annually, more than three times the French average all confused basins. The specific Flow of the river (or Qsp) reached the very high figure of 32,2 liters a second and per square kilometer of basin, a record in Corsica.

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