Allier (river)

The Allier (Occitan: [Alèir] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a river in central France, left tributary of the Loire River. It flows through several regions.

Allier (river)
Progression	Loire→ Atlantic Ocean
Length	421 km (262 mi)

The Allier department is named after this river. In Ancient Rome, the river was named Elaver.

Geography

The Allier river has a length of 420.7 km (261.4 mi) and a drainage basin with an area of 14,310 km² (5,525 sq mi).

Its average yearly discharge (volume of water which passes through a section of the river per unit of time) is 143.0 m³/s (5,050 cu ft/s) at Cuffy in the Cher department.

Average monthly discharge (m3/s) at Cuffy (1955 - 2017)

Course

File:Coté rive droite Est de l'Allier - Vichy.jpg

The Allier river at Vichy.

The source of the Allier is in the mountainous region of Margeride, part of the Massif Central, on the mountain Moure de la Gardille in the Chasseradès municipality, Lozère department. The source is at an altitude of about 1,430 m (4,692 ft).

The Allier flows, in general, to the north and passes through the following regions, departments and communes:

• Occitanie region
  • Lozère: Langogne
• Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
  • Ardèche: the river forms the border between this department and Lozère.
  • Haute-Loire: Alleyras, Auzon, Brioude, Langeac, Lavoûte-Chilhac
  • Puy-de-Dôme: Brassac-les-Mines, Auzat-la-Combelle, Issoire, Coudes, Cournon-d'Auvergne, Pont-du-Château
  • Allier: Vichy, Varennes-sur-Allier, Moulins
• Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
  • Nièvre: Marzy, Gimouille
• Centre-Val de Loire
  • Cher: Cuffy

Finally, it flows, as a left tributary into the Loire river at the bec d'Allier ("beak of the Allier"), near the city of Nevers, in the limits between the Cher and Nièvre departments in the towns of Marzy, Cuffy and Gimouille, at 167 m (548 ft) of altitude.

Main tributaries

The main tributaries, with a length greater than 40 km (25 mi), of the Allier are:

Left tributaries: Chapeauroux - 56 km; Ance - 40.3 km; Alagnon - 85.9 km; Couze Pavin - 46 km; Morge - 68.4 km; Andelot - 49.4 km; Sioule - 163.3 km;

Right tributaries: Senouire - 63.1 km; Dore - 140.4 km; Sichon - 41.1 km;

Gallery

• Pont-du-Chateau Allier.JPG

  The Allier river near Pont-du-Château.

• The Allier at Vichy.

• 01 Allier - Villages de St-Ilpize et Villeneuve-d'Allier - JPG1.jpg

  The Allier river.

• 15 Bec d'allier (Vue de cuffy 18).jpg

  The Bec d'Allier at Cuffy : confluence of the Allier and the Loire.

Allier (river) Media

• Ombres.jpg

  A pair of grayling on a spawning ground of the Ain.

Related pages

• List of rivers of France

Other websites

• Banque Hydro - Station K3650810 - L'Allier à Cuffy (Synthèse) Archived 2015-02-19 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
• The river Allier - Loire Nature