Aragon River

The Aragon River is a river in northern Spain, one of the main tributaries of the Ebro River. It drains a basin of 8524 km², is 195 km long and contributes to the Ebro an average of 1300 hm³/year.

Hydronymy

According to the linguist Edelmiro Bascuas, Aragón, would come from *Ara-k-onem, derived from the Indo-European root *er- & #39;flow, move', with hydronymic meaning.

Geography

The Aragón river is born in the glacial cirque of the Astún valley, Jaca municipal area, Jacetania region (Huesca), at 2050 m above sea level. It is nourished at the head by the Escalar and Truchas lakes. It runs from north to south through the Aragón or Canfranc valley until it reaches Jaca, where its waters change to an east-west direction to head west through the Berdún Canal and the extreme north of the province of Zaragoza to Navarre lands. The highest peak in the basin is the Collarada peak with 2886 m. In this area snowfall is abundant, causing important spring floods. Another time of floods is the autumn with the rains, having come to register 2038 m³/s (October 22, 1913).

View of the valley of the Aragón River

Among the tributaries of Aragón are the following rivers: Candanchú, Canal Roya, Ijuez, Gas, Lubierre, Estarrún, Aragón Subordán, Veral, Esca, Regal, Irati, Onsella, Zidacos and Arga.

The course of the river is interrupted by the Yesa reservoir, at the entrance to the Foral Community of Navarra, in the municipality of Yesa, with a capacity of 470 hm³; its waters are transferred to the Cinco Villas region and recently to the city of Zaragoza. About 700 hm³ are transferred annually for irrigation in Bardenas and for drinking water to the city of Zaragoza, which represents a volume of more than half of the annual flow that reaches Yesa. The gauging station of the reservoir registers an average flow of 1216 hm³/year.

The transfer of water is carried out through the Bardenas channel, which is 139 km long until its junction with the waters of the Gállego in Ardisa. The works on the reservoir began in 1930 and it was officially inaugurated on April 8, 1959. This reservoir led to the exodus of 1,450 people who lived in the towns of Tiermas, Ruesta, and Escó, as well as the flooding of 2,400 ha of rich plain and the Tiermas thermal waters spa-hotel, as well as a rich archaeological heritage from Roman times. It caused the disintegration of the western area of the Berdún Canal, which had Tiermas as its capital.

The Aragon River in Sangüesa (Navarra)

The Aragón basin contains a great diversity of plants due to the different climatic influences it receives. To the west, the oceanic influence reaches the head of the Ansó, Hecho, Aragüés and Aísa valleys up to Candanchú, with beech and fir forests. From the south, the Mediterranean influence penetrates through the valley as far as Puente la Reina de Jaca and the Sigüés, Fago, Biniés and Villanúa gorges, with kermes (Quercus coccifera) and holm oaks (Quercus rotundifolia ). In between, the sub-Mediterranean climate dominates with gall oaks (Quercus pyrenaica) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests.

It flows into the Ebro river near Milagro (Navarra)

Aragon River Valley in the Pyrenees