Arachthos

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Arachthos
Άραχθος
Arta Bridge from Ottoman times over the Arachthos River

Arta Bridge from Ottoman times over the Arachthos River

Data
location Greece ( Epirus )
River system Arachthos
source Oxia Despotism, Lakmos massif
Pindos -Gebirge
Source height 1700  m
muzzle Ambracian Gulf Coordinates: 39 ° 0 '42 "  N , 21 ° 3' 47"  E 39 ° 0 '42 "  N , 21 ° 3' 47"  E
Mouth height m
Height difference 1700 m
Bottom slope 15 ‰
length 110 km
Catchment area 1894 km²
Left tributaries Kalaritikos, Raftanitis, Kalendinis
Right tributaries Dipotamos
(Zagoritikos, Vardas)
Medium-sized cities Arta
Arta Bridge (2005)

Arta Bridge (2005)

The Arachthos ( Greek Άραχθος even Artotinos or Potamos tis Artas , Arta River ') is a river in the region of Epirus in Greece . It rises south of Metsovo and northeast of Ioannina in the regional district of Ioannina in the Pindos Mountains ( Lakmos Massif) and flows in a south-westerly direction towards the Ionian Sea , into which it flows after 110 kilometers in the Ambracian Gulf south of Arta .

course

The origin of the Arachthos is the northern flank of the Lakmos mountain range in the regional district of Ioannina south of the village of Metsovo. The source river that rises here is called Metsovitikos. It also receives small tributaries from the western foothills of the Mavrovouni east of Metsovo. The Metsovitikos initially flows around the eponymous town of Metsovo in its south and in the north of the town of Anilio in an arc and then turns to the north-northwest to the town of Votonosi. At Votonosi, the Metsovitikos changes its course by around 75 ° to the southwest and flows along the northern flank of the Lakmos massif in a narrow valley along the villages of Megalo and Mikro Peristeri to the eastern flank of the Driskos, a southern branch of the Mitsikeli massif. At the level of the village of Raches, the Metsovitikos flows together with the Dipotamos river. From this confluence the further course of the river is called Arachthos.

The Dipotamos can be understood as the second source river of the Arachthos. It rises as Zagoritikos east of Lake Pamvotida in Epirus on the northern flank of the Mitsikeli massif, northwest of the village of Manasi and northeast of the city of Ioannina. Immediately after its source, the Zagoritikos runs in an eastward arc around the northeastern foothills of the Mitsikeli massif and flows east of it to the southeast. It forms the eastern boundary of the Mitsikeli massif. The first tributary of the Zagoritikos is the Lakos. South of the village of Miliotades near the village of Potamia, the Zagoritikos receives a tributary, the Vardas, coming from the northeast from the Koukouroutzos massif (1,785 m). From the confluence of the Vardas and Zagoritikos, the river that continues to the southeast is called Dipotamos. The Dipotamos continues its flow direction southeast from its formation. Here it runs in frequent bends in the river through the valley it has created to the east and south-east of the Mitsikeli massif and its southern branch, the Driskos. A few kilometers further downriver from Potamia, the Autobahn 2 (European Route 90) crosses the Dipotoamos and its valley, coming from the Driskos massif, with an over 1,000 m long and 80 m high valley bridge (Arachthos Bridge). A little further south, the national road 6 from Ioannina to Metsovo also crosses the Dipotamos with a significantly smaller bridge. Further south, the Dipotamos flows together with the Metsovitikos coming from the east-northeast at the level of the village of Raches and subsequently forms the river, which is then called Arachthos.

After the confluence of the Dipotamos, the valley of the Arachthos narrows significantly. The river also changes its direction to the south and flows along the western flank of the Lakmos massif with the foothills Kroukia (1,758 m altitude) and Kria Vrysi (1,393 m altitude) as well as the eastern flank of the Driskos towards the village of Potamia in the municipality of Pamvotida. This is passed in the east southwest of the town of Kotomista. After this passage, the river changes its direction of flow in the unchanged narrow valley to the southwest; beforehand it receives the small tributary Goura from the southwest flank of the Lakmos coming from the northeast. The river, which now runs to the southwest, limits the landscape of the Chouliarochoria to the north. The eponymous town of Chouliarades is passed a few kilometers to the west, with the river again directing its direction to the south. The Kalaritikos river, which comes from the east in the valley between Chouliarades in the north and Ambelochori in the south, flows into the Arachthos south of the village of Asteritsa. The course of the Kalaritikos marks the border between the Lakmos massif in the north and the Tzoumerka massif in the south. The western boundary of the Arachthos valley forms the eastern flank of the Xerovouni massif.

A little further south in the course of the Arachthos, the tributary Raftanitis flows into the Arachthos at an acute angle from the north-northeast. Shortly before the confluence of the Raftanitis, the Plaka Bridge, a stone arch bridge from Ottoman times built in 1866, spanned the Arachthos. It collapsed on February 1, 2015 as a result of unusually violent floods. The Arachthos continues its direction of flow to the south and passes the village of Koukoulia running in a slight westward arc. Somewhat north of the villages of Kryoneri and Vathikambos, the Goura flows into the Arachthos when coming from the east. Then the Arachthos swings in its course for a short distance to the south-southwest to the village of Trapezaki. Immediately south of the town of Trapezaki, the Arachthos widens sharply and merges into the northern foothills of the Pournari reservoir. As with other reservoirs in Greece, especially in the Pindos Mountains, the course of the Pournari reservoir follows the "former" river course of the Arachthos and describes a slight curve to the west from north to south. In the middle of this arch , the river Kalendini (named after the town of the same name) flows from the east on the western flank of the Ori Valtou . The tributary of the Kalentini also becomes part of the Pournari reservoir from the village of Melates, so that when viewed from the air it takes on the shape of a "T" rotated 90 ° counterclockwise. The dam of Lake Pournari is located 4.5 km northeast of the city of Arta . This dam is also known as Pournari I ; in the further course of the Arachthos there is a considerably smaller reservoir, the Pournari II. Both reservoirs or dams (Pournari I and II) are used to generate electricity and to obtain water for irrigation purposes in agriculture in the plains of Arta.

After the second Pournari dam, the Arachthos flows into the Arta plain and in an arc from north to south around the city of Arta (ancient Amvrakia or Ambrakia). The apex of the arch is to the west of Arta. Near this vertex, the 16th century Arta Bridge crosses the Arachthos. Immediately north of this bridge from Ottoman times is the bridge on National Road 5 (Ioannina-Arta-Messolongi). In the northern part of the Arachthos arch around the city of Arta, the Ionia Odos ( Autobahn 5 ) crosses the Arachthos with a new bridge. After the arched course around the city of Arta, the Arachthos flows with meanders through the plain south of the city in a south-southeast direction towards the Ambracian Gulf, into which it flows in the form of a delta at the village of Kommeno .

Water management importance

The Arachthos lies with its catchment area on the rainy west side of the Pindos Mountains in Greece. Annual rainfall of more than 1,000 mm is registered in this region: Arta 1,666 mm per year, further north in Plaka 1,614 mm and in Tsimovo 1,413 mm per year. This abundance of water helps the Arachthos to have large amounts of water compared to other Greek rivers; the Arachthos is therefore water-bearing all year round. The Arachthos is primarily used for water management via the Pournari reservoir (Pournari I) 4.5 km north of Arta (location of the dam). Lake Pournari covers an area of ​​about 20 square kilometers and was completed in 1981. The water of the Arachthos dammed in Lake Pournari is used for irrigation purposes in agriculture and for generating electricity. In terms of irrigation, the water from Lake Pournari is used to supply the Arta Plain with an area of ​​45 km².

The mean flow rate of the Arachthos is 61 m³ per second, according to other information 69.8 m² per second. The total water input of the Arachthos into the Ambracian Gulf was 2.2 billion cubic meters of water per year in 1974. From 1995 to 1997 the Greek Ministry of Agriculture measured a maximum annual water volume of 3.3 billion cubic meters of water per year, the average was given as 1.9 billion cubic meters per year. These amounts of water also enable electricity to be generated. The Pournari I and II power plants with 3 turbines each deliver 300 and 30 megawatt hours of electricity per year. This requires flow rates of 323 or 4.5 hectocubic meters of water per hour.

In addition to generating electricity and water for the purpose of irrigation in agriculture, the dams are also said to have a protective effect against flooding through their regulation of the flow rates .

history

The Arachthos was seen as the border between Hellas and Epirus in ancient times . A border town was Amvrakia (Ambrakia), today's city of Arta. East of the Arachthos was the ancient landscape of Akarnania, which extended to the river Acheloos . To the north and west of the Arachthos were the ancient landscapes of Molossis, Chaonia and Thesprotis, together with their tribes. From independence in 1821 to the reorganization of the London Ambassadors Conference in the fall of the Ottoman Empire , the "sick man on the Bosporus", the Arachthos (Arta) was the border between the Kingdom of Greece and Ottoman Albania .

The village of Kommeno at the mouth of the Arachthos south of Arta was the scene of a massacre by a mountain division of the German Wehrmacht of 317 inhabitants on August 16, 1943 during the German occupation of Greece in World War II .

swell

  1. Historic bridge of Plaka, Arta collapses due to heavy rains. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
  2. M. Mimikou: An investigation of suspended sediment rating curves in Western Greece . Hydrological Sciences Journal 27, 1982, pp. 3-9.
  3. TA Albanis, TG Danis, DG Hela: Transportation of pesticides in esturaries of Louros and Arachthos rivers (Amvrakikos Gulf, NW Greece) . The Science of the Total Environment 171, 1995, pp. 85-93.
  4. SE Poulos, V. Lykousis, MB Collins: Late Quaternary Evolution of Amvrakikos Gulf, western Greece . Geo-Marine Letters (1995) 15, pages 9-16.

literature

Web links