The Ourche is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the eastern France, a

left tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

of the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name deri ...

. It is long.

Geography

The Ourche flows entirely within the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

. It is the first notable tributary of the Saône, rising at the

lieu dit ''Lieu-dit'' (; plural: ''lieux-dits'') (literally ''said-location'') is a French toponymic term for a small geographical area bearing a traditional name. The name usually refers to some characteristic of the place, its former use, a past event, e ...

of La Groseillére at

Gruey-lès-Surance Gruey-lès-Surance () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. See also *Communes of the Vosges department The following is a list of the 507 communes of the Vosges department of France. The communes cooper ...

. It flows slowly through the forest of

Darney Darney () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. It is located in the Vôge Plateau, around the location of the source of the river Saône. Darney is known for its forest of oak and beech trees. History Darn ...

, crossing the communes of

Hennezel Hennezel () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Hennezel is located near the Vallée de l'Ourche, as well as other scenic attractions (La Hutte, Droiteval). Points of interest * Arboretum de la Hutte Fauna ...

and Claudon, separating the latter in the north from its neighbour of Attigny. The Ourche is fed by four small rivers: Orgoneaux, Thiétry, Houdrie and Noires Gouttes. The bed is made of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

which was deposited in the

Paleozoic Era The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

. The course of the Ourche is punctuated by numerous ponds and reservoirs, witnesses to the industrial exploitation of

water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a wa ...

. Today this power is still used by

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

microstations.

References

Rivers of Vosges (department) Rivers of France Rivers of Grand Est {{France-river-stub