Seine
Seine | |
---|---|
Native name | la Seine (French) |
Location | |
Country | France |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Source-Seine |
Mouth | English Channel (French: la Manche) |
• location | Le Havre/Honfleur |
• coordinates | 49°26′02″N 0°12′24″E / 49.43389°N 0.20667°E |
• elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
Length | 777 km (483 mi) |
Basin size | 79,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
• location | Le Havre |
• average | 560 m3/s (20,000 cu ft/s) |
Basin features | |
River system | Seine basin |
Tributaries | |
• left | Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle |
• right | Ource, Aube, Marne, Oise, Epte |
The Seine (
There are 37
River sources
The Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864. A number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial
Course
The Seine can artificially be divided into five parts:
- the Petite Seine, "Small Seine" from the sources to Montereau-Fault-Yonne
- the Haute Seine, "Upper Seine" from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris
- the Traversée de Paris, "the Paris waterway"
- the Basse Seine, "Lower Seine" from Paris to Rouen
- the Seine maritime, "Maritime Seine" from Rouen to the English channel.
Below Rouen, the river passes through the Parc Naturel Régional des Boucles de la Seine Normande, a French regional nature park.
The Seine is dredged and ocean-going vessels can dock at Rouen, 120 kilometres (75 mi) from the sea. Commercial craft (barges and push-tows) can use the river beginning at Marcilly-sur-Seine, 516 kilometres (321 mi) to its mouth.[5]
At Paris, there are 37 bridges. The river is only 24 metres (79 ft) above sea level 446 kilometres (277 mi) from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable.[citation needed]
The Seine Maritime, 123 kilometres (76 mi) from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the only portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft.[6] The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a canalized section (Basse Seine) with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (170 km [110 mi]). Smaller locks at Bougival and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, where the junction with the Canal Saint-Martin is located. The distance from the mouth of the Oise is 72 km (45 mi).[7]
The Haute Seine, from Paris to
The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres (31 ft). Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city, and consisted of a small channel of continuous flow bordered by sandy banks (depicted in many illustrations of the period). Today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is very low, only a few cubic metres per second, but much higher flows are possible during periods of heavy runoff.
Dams and flood control
Four large storage reservoirs have been built since 1950 on the Seine as well as its tributaries Yonne, Marne, and Aube. These help in maintaining a constant level for the river through the city, but cannot prevent significant increases in river level during periods of extreme runoff. The dams are Lac d’Orient, Lac des Settons, Lake Der-Chantecoq, and Auzon-Temple and Amance, respectively.[12]
Flooding
A very severe period of high water in January 1910 resulted in extensive flooding throughout the city of Paris. The Seine again rose to threatening levels in 1924, 1955, 1982, 1999–2000, June 2016, and January 2018.[13][14] After a first-level flood alert in 2003, about 100,000 works of art were moved out of Paris, the largest relocation of art since World War II. Much of the art in Paris is kept in underground storage rooms that would have been flooded.[15]
A 2002 report by the French government stated the worst-case Seine flood scenario would cost 10 billion euros and cut telephone service for a million Parisians, leaving 200,000 without electricity and 100,000 without gas.[16]
2018 Paris flood
In January 2018 the Seine again flooded, reaching a flood level of 5.84 metres (19 ft 2 in) on 29 January.[17] An official warning was issued on 24 January that heavy rainfall was likely to cause the river to flood.[18] By 27 January, the river was rising.[19] The Deputy Mayor of Paris Colombe Brossel warned that the heavy rain was caused by climate change. He added that "We have to understand that climatic change is not a word, it's a reality."[20]
Watershed
The basin area, including a part of Belgium, is 78,910 square kilometres (30,470 sq mi),[21] 2 percent of which is forest and 78 percent cultivated land. In addition to Paris, three other cities with a population over 100,000 are in the Seine watershed: Le Havre at the estuary, Rouen in the Seine valley and Reims at the northern limit—with an annual urban growth rate of 0.2 percent.[21] The population density is 201 per square kilometer.
Tributaries
Tributaries of the Seine are, from source to mouth:[2]
- Ource (right)
- Barse (right)
- Aube (right)
- Yonne (left)
- Loing (left)
- Almont (right)
- Essonne (left)
- Orge (left)
- Yerres (right)
- Marne (right)
- Bièvre (left)
- Oise (right)
- Aubette de Meulan (right)
- Mauldre (left)
- Vaucouleurs (left)
- Epte (right)
- Andelle (right)
- Eure (left)
- Oison (left)
- Aubette (right)
- Cailly (right)
- Austreberthe (right)
- Commerce (right)
- Risle (left)
- Lézarde (right)
Water quality
Due to concentrated levels of industry, agriculture and urban populations of Paris and its surroundings, the Seine-Normandy watershed experiences the highest human impacts of any hydrographic basin in France. Compared to most other large European rivers, the ability of the Seine to dilute urban sewage and farmland runoff is very low. Low oxygen levels, high concentrations of ammonia, nitrites and faecal bacteria, extending from Paris to the estuary, have been issues for over a century. The advent of nitrogenous fertilizers in the 1960s marked an upturn in agricultural pollution due to land use changes that had previously scaled with population growth. Heavy industries near Paris and along the Oise River discharged virtually untreated wastewaters from the turn of the 19th century, causing concentrations of toxins in the river that were ignored until the late 1980s. Major French laws to address water quality were passed in 1898, 1964, 1996, and 2006.[22]
At the beginning of the 20th century, most domestic sewage was used as fertilizer for nearby croplands. As populations grew, the agricultural capacity to absorb those wastewaters was exceeded. Large-scale construction of waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) began in 1940 to meet demand; however, by 1970, about 60% of urban sewage was allowed to flow into the river untreated. The resulting oxygen depletion reduced the number of fish species to three. Measures taken in the early 2000s due to the Water Framework Directive led to significant reductions of organic carbon, phosphorus and ammonium, which in turn decreased the occurrence and severity of phytoplankton blooms. Continued WWTP construction and new treatment methods improved environmental conditions.[23] In 2009, it was announced that Atlantic salmon had returned to the Seine.[24] By the early 2020s, the number of fish species near Paris had rebounded to 32.[23]
Periodically the
In 2018, a €1.4 billion ($1.55 billion) cleanup programme called the "Swimming Plan" was launched with the aim of making the river safe to use for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The project includes constructing a basin to store rainwater, which would then be slowly released into the sewer system, preventing overflow. Plans also call for several public swimming areas to be made available by 2025, ending a 102-year ban instituted in 1923 due to the polluted water.[29]
History
The name Seine comes from Gaullish
On 28 or 29 March 845, an army of
On 25 November 885, another Viking expedition led by
In March 1314, King
After the
On 9 August 1803 Robert Fulton, American painter and marine engineer, made his first successful test of his steamboat in the Seine beside the Tuileries Garden. Having a length of sixty-six feet and an eight-foot beam Fulton's steamboat attained speeds of three to four miles per hour against the Seine's current.[33]
1900 Summer Olympics
At the 1900 Summer Olympics, the river hosted the rowing, swimming, and water polo events.[34] Twenty-four years later, it hosted the rowing events again at Bassin d'Argenteuil, along the Seine north of Paris.[35]
Operation Overlord
The Seine was one of the original objectives of
Some of the Algerian victims of the Paris massacre of 1961 drowned in the Seine after being thrown by French policemen from the Pont Saint-Michel and other locations in Paris.
Dredging
Dredging in the 1960s mostly eliminated tidal bores on the lower river, known in French as "le mascaret."
World Heritage Sites
In 1991
In 2007 55 bodies were retrieved from its waters; in February 2008, the body of supermodel-turned-activist Katoucha Niane was found there.[37]
2024 Summer Olympics
In 2024, the River is set to be host to a boat parade with boats for each national delegation during the
In art
During the 19th and the 20th centuries in particular the Seine inspired many artists, including:
- Frédéric Bazille
- Maurice Boitel
- Richard Parkes Bonington
- Eugène Boudin
- Camille Corot
- Charles-François Daubigny
- Guy Debord
- Raoul Dufy
- Othon Friesz
- Carl Fredrik Hill
- Eugène Isabey
- Johan Barthold Jongkind
- Raimond Lecourt
- Albert Marquet
- Henri Matisse
- Claude Monet
- Luis F. Pinzón
- Camille Pissarro
- Emilio Grau Sala
- Gaston Sébire
- Georges Seurat
- Alfred Sisley
- Constant Troyon
- J. M. W. Turner
- Félix Vallotton
- Édouard Vuillard
- Pierre Auguste Renoir
A song 'La Seine' by Flavien Monod and Guy Lafarge was written in 1948.
Josephine Baker recorded a song 'La Seine'[39]
A song 'La seine' by Vanessa Paradis feat. Matthieu Chedid was originally written as a soundtrack for the movie 'A Monster in Paris'
-
Georges Seurat'sSunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte(1884–1886) is set on an island in the Seine.
-
Carl Fredrik Hill, French River Landscape, Bois-le-Roi (1877)
-
Alfred Sisley, The Terrace at Saint-Germain, Spring (1875) in the Walters Art Museum gives a panoramic view of the Seine river valley.
-
Washhouses on Seine (1937) by Andrus Johani
See also
References
- ^ "Sein". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.[dead link]
- ^ .
- ^ A hand book up the Seine. G.F. Cruchley, 81, Fleet Street, 1840. 1840.
- ^ "River in Paris". Paris Digest. 2018. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-846230-14-1.
- ^ Fluviacarte Archived 25 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Seine maritime
- ^ Fluviacarte Archived 25 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Basse Seine
- ^ Fluviacarte Archived 25 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Haute Seine
- ^ Fluviacarte Archived 25 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Petite Seine (aval)
- ^ Fluviacarte Archived 25 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Petite Seine (amont)
- ^ "La construction du canal de la Haute-Seine" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- ^ "LC". Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Seine river Basin Archived 8 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, United Nations Environment Programme Department of Early Warning and Assessment (accessed 5 June 2007).
- ^ Willsher, Kim (24 January 2018). "Paris on flooding alert as rising Seine causes travel disruption". The Guardian.
- ^ Riding, Alan (19 February 2003). "Fearing a Big Flood, Paris Moves Art". The New York Times.
- ^ Mulholland, Rory (25 January 2002). "Paris flood warning". BBC News.
- ^ Garriga, Nicolas; Schaeffer, Jeffrey (29 January 2018). "France sees worst rains in 50 years, floods peak in Paris". Deseret News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018.
- ^ Willsher, Kim (24 January 2018). "Paris on flooding alert as rising Seine causes travel disruption". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- National Public Radio. Archivedfrom the original on 28 January 2018.
- ^ Vandoorne, Saskya; Said-Moorhouse, Lauren (26 January 2018). "Paris is still on flood alert even though the rain has stopped". CNN. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018.
- ^ a b "World Resources Institute". Earthtrends.wri.org. 22 February 1999. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
- ISSN 1867-979X.
- ^ ISSN 1867-979X.
- ^ "Radio France Internationale – Atlantic salmon return to river Seine". Rfi.fr. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
- organicmatter in river Seine after a combined sewer overflow, ENPC – University Paris Val de Marne Paris XII (France), 1997, 181 pp.
- ^ Schofield, Hugh (25 July 2023). "Paris to bring back swimming in Seine after 100 years". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
- ^ J.F.Chiffoleau. 2007. Metal contamination. the Seine-Aval scientific programme. Quae. 40 pages
- ^ Hogan, C. Michael (2006). Water quality of fresh water bodies in France. Aberdeen: Luminna Press.
- ^ Guy, Jack; Mawad, Dalal; Briscoe, Oliver (26 July 2023). "Paris to bring back swimming in River Seine after 100 years". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
- ^ Julius Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (Francke, 1959), word 1664 https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/natlang/ie/pokorny.html Archived 6 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages Vol. III by Henry Charles Lea, NY: Hamper & Bros, Franklin Sq. 1888, p. 325. Not in copyright.
- PMID 17410145.
- ^ Dickinson, Henry Winram (1913). Robert Fulton, Engineer and Artist: His Life and Works. London: John Lane Company. pp. 157–158.
- ^ 1900 Summer Olympics official report. Archived 28 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine pp. 17–18. (in French)
- ^ 1924 Olympics official report. Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine pp. 165–6.
- ^ Paris, Banks of the Seine Archived 21 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, the World Heritage Site entry from the UNESCO website
- ^ Supermodel Katoucha Niane found dead Archived 29 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine from The Daily Telegraph
- ^ "Paris 2024 presents an opening ceremony like no other". Paris 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ Avenger88 (26 January 2013). "La Seine". Archived from the original on 6 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via YouTube.