Llobregat

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This article is about river in Catalonia, Spain. For other uses, see Llobregat (disambiguation).
Llobregat

View of the Llobregat River in Olesa de Montserrat
Origin Serra del Cadí
Mouth Mediterranean Sea
Basin countries Spain
Length 170 kilometres (110 mi)
Source elevation 1259
Mouth elevation 0
Avg. discharge 20.77
Basin area 4.948.3
River system Ebro
Left tributaries Riera de Merlès, Riera Gavarresa, Riera de Rubí, Riera de Vallvidrera
Right tributaries Bastareny, Cardener, Anoia
Pont del Diable over the Llobregat in Martorell

The Llobregat (Catalan pronunciation: [ʎuβɾəˈɣat]) is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. Its name could have originated in an ancient Latin word meaning 'dark', 'sorrowful' or 'muddy'.[1]

Course

The Llobregat originates at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, within the limits of Castellar de n'Hug municipality, Berguedà comarca. The total length of the river is over 170 kilometers. At Martorell, the Roman Via Augusta crosses the river on the impressive Devil's bridge, which dates from the High Middle Ages in its current form. The C-16 highway is also known as the 'Llobregat Axis' (Catalan: Eix del Llobregat) for its largest stretch follows the valley of the Llobregat.

The river ends in the Mediterranean Sea forming the Llobregat Delta, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona. The delta provided a large extension of fertile land close to the city of Barcelona, but is now largely paved, urbanized or covered by infrastructure such as the Barcelona–El Prat Airport.[2]

The Llobregat is heavily managed in its lower course and water that was previously lost to the sea is now pumped upstream to increase the natural flow, recharge the river delta wetlands and control seawater incursion.

Tributaries

The main tributaries of the Llobregat are:

  • Right tributaries:
  • Left tributaries:
    • Riera de Merlès
    • Riera Gavarresa
    • Riera de Rubí
    • Riera de Vallvidrera, also known as la Rierada

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bofarull i Terrades, Manuel. Origen dels noms geogràfics de Catalunya: pobles, rius, muntanyes, 2002.
  2. ↑ La transformació del Delta

Further reading

  • S. Sabater & A. Ginebreda & D. Barceló (Editors): The Llobregat: The Story of a Polluted Mediterranean River. Springer, 2012. ISBN 978-3-642-30938-0

External links

Coordinates: 41°53′00″N 1°53′20″E / 41.88333°N 1.88889°E / 41.88333; 1.88889

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