Rhône River

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Rhône River

Mouth	Mediterranean Sea
Basin countries	Switzerland, France
Length	800 km (497 mi)
Source elevation	1,753 m (5,752 ft)
Avg. discharge	1,800 m³/s (63,576 ft³/s)
Basin area	100,200 km² (38,687 mi²)

The Rhône's course.

The Rhône's beginnings from a glacier in Valais.

Starry Night Over the Rhône, by Vincent van Gogh (1888)

The River Rhône (French Rhône, Occitan Ròse, Franco-Provençal Rôno, standard German Rhone, Valais German Rotten, Italian Rodano - all coming from Latin Rhodanus), is one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France.

1 Course
2 Navigation
3 Along the Rhône
- 3.1 Switzerland
- 3.2 France
4 History
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Course

It rises as the effluent of the Rhône Glacier in Valais, Switzerland, in the Saint-Gotthard massif, at an altitude of 1753 m.

Up to Martigny, the Rhône is a torrent, and then becomes a great mountain river running SW through a glacier valley. Then, it turns NW to exit the Alps and flows west through Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) before entering France. The average annual discharge from Lake Geneva is 570 m³/s^[1].

It is joined by the river Saône at Lyon, before going south. Along the Rhône Valley, it is joined on the right bank by Cévennes rivers Eyrieux, Ardèche, Cèze and Gardon or Gard, on the left Alps bank by rivers Isère, Drôme, Ouvèze and Durance.

At Arles, the Rhône divides itself in two arms, forming the Camargue delta, with all branches flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. One arm is called the "Grand Rhône", the other one is the "Petit Rhône". The average annual discharge at Arles is 2300 m³/s^[2].

[edit] Navigation

Before the age of railroads and autoroutes, the Rhône had been an important route for inland navigation, connecting the early textile and trade cities of Arles, Avignon, Valence, Vienne and Lyon to the Mediterranean ports of Fos, Marseille and Sète. The Rhône is developed as a class V waterway from the mouth of the Saône to the sea. The Saône river, which is also canalized, connects the Rhône ports to the cities of Villefranche, Macon and Chalons. Smaller vessels (up to CEMT class I) can travel further north-west, north and north-east via the Centre-Loire-Briare and Loing Canals to the Seine river, via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône (recently often called the "Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne") to the Marne, via the Canal des Vosges (formerly called the "Canal de l'Est - Branche Sud" to the Moselle and via the Canal du Rhône au Rhin to the Rhine.

The Rhône is infamous for its strong current when the river carries large quantities of water: current speeds up to 10 kilometers per hour are sometimes reached, particularly in the stretch below the last lock at Valabrègues and in some of the diversion canals. The ten river locks are operated daily from 05:00 a.m. till 09:00 p.m., but night operation can be asked and is usually granted ^[3].