Cerveyrette

The Cerveyrette is a river in the Hautes-Alpes department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a tributary of the Durance, making it a sub-tributary of the Rhône.

The Cerveyrette is both a torrent and the valley it has carved in its upper reaches (between 1,860 metres (6, 100 ft) and 2,040 metres (6, 690 ft) altitude) within the Queyras massif. One of its tributaries, the Blétonnet, collects water from the northern slopes of the Col d'Izoard. The upper valley contains one of the rare high-altitude wetlands in the region, at approximately 1,900 metres (6, 200 ft), noted for its exceptional biological diversity. The Cerveyrette originates in the commune of Cervières at a location called Le Venton, west of Petit Rochebrune (3,078 metres (10, 098 ft)), at an altitude of 2,506 metres (8, 222 ft). In its upper reaches, it is also known as the Ravin du Venton. With a length of 22.8 kilometres (14.2 mi), the Cerveyrette is one of many Alpine tributaries contributing to the Rhône drainage basin. The river joins the Durance on its left bank in Briançon, at an altitude of 1,187 metres (3, 894 ft), less than 400 metres (1, 300 ft) from the railway station and near the municipal swimming pool, at a location called Les Preyts. Midway along its course, the Pont Baldy dam provides a storage capacity of up to 1,000,000 cubic metres (35, 000, 000 cu ft).

The Cerveyrette flows through two communes in the Hautes-Alpes department and one canton: From upstream to downstream: Arrondissement of Briançon: Canton of Briançon-2: Cervières (source), Briançon (confluence).

The Cerveyrette drains a single hydrographic zone, "Torrent de la Cerveyrette" (X010), covering 119 square kilometres (46 sq mi). The basin consists of 96.44% forests and semi-natural areas, 2.99% agricultural land, 0.56% wetlands, and 0.56% urbanized areas.

Flows through: France.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.