The Doubs ( ; ; ; ) is a river in far eastern France which strays into western Switzerland. It is a left-bank tributary of the Saône. It rises near Mouthe in the western Jura mountains, at and its mouth is at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, a village and commune in Saône-et-Loire at about above sea level. It is the tenth-longest river in France.
The most populous settlement of the basin lies on its banks, Besançon. Its course includes a small waterfall and a narrow lake.
Course From its source in Mouthe, France, France it flows northeast, crossing the French/Swiss border at the very southwest of Soubey, Switzerland in the Swiss Canton of Jura. It continues northeasterly in Jura Canton for roughly 20km, then turns sharply north and then southwest to return to the border into France which it crosses at the very east of Montancy, France. South-east of Montbéliard, France it adopts a southwest striation or fault of the Jura Mountains, flowing a greater distance southwest than the flow it has traced before northeast. It then flows into the Saône at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs about northeast of Chalon-sur-Saône.
The shape of the course resembles the silhouette of a terrier sitting upright, leaning right, with the upper part of a northeastern corner "ear" the only zone in Switzerland, there reaching Saint-Ursanne. In that country it borders or crosses the cantons Jura and Neuchâtel.
Waterfalls and lake The falls known as the Saut du Doubs is on the French-Swiss border.
Nearby, the river, dammed up by landslide debris, forms the long, wide, winding lake, (le) Lac des Brenets. The -high Doubs Falls are at the lake's end. The falls can be reached on foot or by passenger boat.myswitzerland.com
The Doubs flows through the following Departments of France, Cantons of Switzerland, and cities:
Doubs (F): Pontarlier Neuchâtel (CH) Jura (CH): Saint-Ursanne Doubs (F): Montbéliard, Besançon Jura (F): Dole Saône-et-Loire (F): Verdun-sur-le-Doubs
Tributaries include: Loue
Allan
The river forms several lakes: Lac de Saint-Point (elevation ) near Pontarlier Lac des Brenets (elevation ) Lac de Moron (elevation ) (elevation ) Between Ville du Pont and Morteau the river flows through the Défilé d'Entre-Roches, a scenic canyon.
Floods and seasonal variation The rate of flow of the Doubs is very seasonally variable. The flooding or well-watered season can stretch from September to May, caused by heavy rains or by quick melting of snow from the Jura mountains. At its mouth, the discharge rate can vary from as low as to over during floods.
In Besançon, the largest floods have been in 1852 (), in 1896 () and in 1910.
Hydroelectricity
As a mountain river with substantial discharge, the Doubs has been used for electricity generation. Among several hydroelectric stations, the most important are the , tall, and the Dam of Refrain, tall.
In popular culture The river is mentioned sixteen times in Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black (Le rouge et le noir).
See also January 1910 Doubs river flood List of rivers in France List of rivers in Switzerland Nature parks in Switzerland Sommêtres
References