river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''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 into which they ...

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium 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 geomorphological unit and ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Monastic Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium 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 geomorphological unit and ...

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Verdun-sur-le-Doubs in

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

, the Saône is called the "Petite Saône" (lesser Saône), which reflects the large contribution of the Doubs to the Saône. In fact the Doubs's mean annual flow rate is slightly stronger than that of the Petite Saône, compared to ; some thus assert that it is in fact the Saône that flows into the Doubs. Nonetheless, the Saône has a substantially larger watershed than the Doubs, at ''vs.'' . At the Saône has the largest watershed of any French river that does not flow directly into the sea, covering approximately 1/18 of

metropolitan France Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...

. In pre-

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times the river's name was "Arar", a doubling of the Indo-European root ''ar'' (water). According to

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's Commentaries on the Gallic War this doubling reflected the idea that it was difficult to identify the direction of the river due to its slow rate of flow. The Battle of the Arar was the first major battle of the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gauls, Gallic, Germanic peoples, Germanic, and Celtic Britons, Brittonic trib ...

. Its current name came from a sacred spring, ''Sauc-Onna'', located at Chalon, which was used by

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

aries to refer to the entire river. 200606 - Pont de la Saône à Tournus.JPG, Bridge over the Saône at Tournus View over the Saône, Lyon.jpg, View over the Saône, Lyon city centre Lyon Quai Jean-Jacques Rousseau 5.jpg, La Mulatière seen from the Presqu'île

Departments and cities traversed by the Saône

*

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium 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 geomorphological unit and ...

: Darney,

Monthureux-sur-Saône Monthureux-sur-Saône () or Monthureux-on-the-Saône is a Communes of France, commune near the Saône River in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department in Grand Est in northeastern France. In French, its inhabitants are c ...

, Châtillon-sur-Saône *

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Frainc-Comtou: ''Hâte-Saône''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.

: Jonvelle,

Corre Corre () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Geography The Côney flows southward through the middle of the commune, crosses the village, then flows into the Saône, which fo ...

, Jussey, Port-sur-Saône, Scey-sur-Saône,

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

*

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.

: Auxonne, Saint-Jean-de-Losne, Seurre *

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

: Verdun-sur-le-Doubs,

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefectu ...

, Tournus,

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...

, Crêches-sur-Saône * Ain:

Thoissey Thoissey () is a Communes of France, commune in the Ain Departments of France, department in eastern France. Geography The Chalaronne forms the commune's southeastern border, then flows into the Saône, which forms its western border. Histo ...

, Montmerle-sur-Saône, Jassans-Riottier *

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

: Belleville-sur-Saône, Villefranche-sur-Saône, Anse,

Neuville-sur-Saône Neuville-sur-Saône (, literally ''Neuville on Saône'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in eastern France. Surrounding communes * Genay, Rhône, Genay * Montanay * Fl ...

,

Fontaines-sur-Saône Fontaines-sur-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Fontanes'') is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central-eastern France. It is located on the left bank of the Saône, also comprising roughly the northern half of Î ...

,

Caluire-et-Cuire Caluire-et-Cuire (; ) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the department of Rhône, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, eastern France. It is the fifth-largest suburb of the city of Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. ...

,

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Main tributaries of the Saône

R indicates a right tributary, L indicates a left tributary.

Navigation

The Saône is navigable from its

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

with the Coney at

Corre Corre () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Geography The Côney flows southward through the middle of the commune, crosses the village, then flows into the Saône, which fo ...

in the north of the ''département''

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Frainc-Comtou: ''Hâte-Saône''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.

all the way to its confluence with the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

(itself a navigable river) at La Mulatière, in Lyon. The navigable stretch is long, of which has been redeveloped to European high-capacity dimensions from Saint-Symphorien-sur-Saône to Lyon. It has 5 locks. The 161 km long part upstream from Saint-Symphorien-sur-Saône to Corre, also named ''Petite Saône'', is navigable for Freycinet gauge ships and has 19 locks. The Saône is linked with the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

by the Canal du Centre, with the

Yonne Yonne (, in Burgundian: ''Ghienne'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight con ...

by the Canal de Bourgogne, with the Marne by the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne (previously the Canal de la Marne à la Saône), with the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

by the Canal de l'Est, whose southern branch has been renamed the Canal des Vosges, and with the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

by the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. All the canals are Freycinet gauge. Also navigable are the small Canal de Pont-de-Vaux (3 km), the Seille, navigable in a stretch up to Louhans, as well as the lower part of the Doubs. None of these three connect the Saône to any other waterway.

Hydrology

The lesser Saône (Petite Saône)

Puvis de Chavannes Personification of the Saone

The lesser Saône has a tendency to flood (sometimes influenced by snow), with a very strong oceanic effect. The

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

s are not susceptible to much infiltration, so that they saturate quickly which contributes to

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to ''channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other ...

. The flow rate grows very quickly, and after receiving the waters of the Lanterne, the Saône already becomes a powerful river. The mean annual flow rate, or discharge, of the Saône has been measured over 50 years (as of 2013) at the

Ray-sur-Saône Ray-sur-Saône (, literally ''Ray on Saône'') is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Saône department The following is a list of the 536 comm ...

hydrological station, situated about after the Lanterne confluence between Port-sur-Saône and

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

. The figure is for a watershed area of (the upper basin of the lesser Saône), and has an annual maximum of and a minimum of . The river exhibits seasonal variations in flow rate, with winter floods from from December to March inclusive, and summer reductions in July/August/September falling to a monthly average of in August. The

runoff curve number The runoff curve number (also called a curve number or simply CN) is an empirical parameter used in hydrology for predicting direct runoff or infiltration from rainfall excess. The curve number method was developed by the USDA Natural Resources C ...

in the upper basin of the lesser Saône is annually, ''cf.'' for the Lanterne, an elevated figure resulting from the very high rainfall in the Vosgian part of its watershed. The specific flow rate rises to 16.0 litres per second per square kilometre of watershed. The maximum instantaneous recorded flow rate was on December 19, 1982.

The greater Saône (Grande Saône)

The greater Saône is formed by the confluence of the Doubs and the lesser Saône at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs. The Doubs brings a mean annual flow rate of , and the lesser Saône, . The greater Saône has only modest tributaries which have little effect on floods or other hydrological properties. It flows in a vast plain approximately wide as far as Lyon in the basin of the former Bressan lake. The slope is very gradual, and without

hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

projects up to the north of Chalon aimed at guaranteeing a deep navigation channel, overflows would be more frequent. At the Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or hydrological station, where the river enters the Lyon area, measurements taken between 1969 and 1986 revealed a mean annual flow rate of , with a 100-year flood flow rate of The runoff curve number from the river's entire watershed is , and the specific flow rate rises to 15.8 litres per second per square km of watershed.

Average flow rate

Overall, the average flow rate in Lyon is , with a minimum of , in August, and a maximum of , in February.

Historic floods

When the Saône floods, the impact varies considerably over the course of the river. A large flood with a strong flow rate upstream can be largely attenuated in the Bressan plain so as to have only moderate impact at Mâcon, particularly if it carries a limited volume of water. By contrast, a medium-sized flood of the lesser Saône can turn into a significant flood downstream, if the Doubs brings in a similar contribution at about the same time. Historic floods include: * The Lyon flood of 580 * The floods of 1602 during the autumn equinoxFloods of the Rhône and all its tributaries, Volume 4
/ref> and of 1711 * The flood of November 1840, with an estimated flow rate of almost , destroyed numerous habitations along the

river valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a ...

. Many plaques marking this serious event are still visible in the villages affected. The high water measured at flood scales reached at Mâcon and at Chalon, or about respectively above normal levels). * The flood of May 1856 * The largest floods in the last 50 years as of 2006: January 1955, March 1970, December 1981 and 1982, May 1983, March 2001 and 2006. The reference flood in

town planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

is the

100-year flood A 100-year flood, also called a 1% flood,Holmes, R.R., Jr., and Dinicola, K. (2010) ''100-Year flood–it's all about chance 'U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 106/ref> is a flood event at a level that is reached or exceeded onc ...

. This reference was in the course of being modified as maps linked to modelling the 1840 flood in modern town planning conditions were distributed to local mayors in December 2008, and as new prevention plans were ordered for 2012. File:SAONE1840.jpg, A plaque commemorating the flood of 1840 at Quincieux File:Saône - échelle des inondations à Ecuelles.JPG, Historic floods since 1950 Écuelles, north

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

File:Niveau crue Saône Belleville.jpg, Indicators of the level of historic floods of the Saône on the Church of Notre-Dame de Belleville

References

External links

River Saône (Petite Saône)
with maps and information on places, ports and moorings on the river from Corre to Saint-Jean-de-Losne, by the author of ''Inland Waterways of France'', Imray
River Saône (Grande Saône)
with maps and information on places, ports and moorings on the river from Saint-Jean-de-Losne to Lyon, by the author of ''Inland Waterways of France'', Imray
Navigation details for 80 French rivers and canals
(French waterways website section)
Waterways in France
*
Saone.org : French river cruising

The Saône
on OpenStreetMap *
Saone.org
Navigation and information about the Saône *

The Saône *
Navigable routes in France
on the website of Voies Navigables de France {{DEFAULTSORT:Saone Rivers of Ain Rivers of Côte-d'Or Rivers of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Rivers of Haute-Saône Rivers of Grand Est Rivers of Rhône (department) Rivers of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Rivers of Saône-et-Loire Rivers of Vosges (department)

Terminology

Geography

Departments and cities traversed by the Saône

Main tributaries of the Saône

Navigation

Hydrology

The lesser Saône (Petite Saône)

The greater Saône (Grande Saône)

Average flow rate

Historic floods

See also

References

External links