La Charente, un estuaire conchylicole

A coastal river 380 km long, the Charente river has a catchment area of about 10,000 km2, flowing through the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime, as well as a small part of the border departments: Dordogne, Deux-Sèvres, Haute-Vienne and Vienne. Its main affluents are the Tardoire, the Seugne and the Boutonne rivers. The highest part of the catchment area is located in Dordogne, at a height of 496 m, whereas the river itself originates from a spring located at a height of 250 m to the south-east of Rochechouart, in the Haute-Vienne. The average height of the catchment area is quite low. In its downstream part, from the Saint-Savinien dam to the ocean, the Charente is influenced by a dynamic tide. The actual estuarine part begins in Tonnay-Charente and stops in Fouras, where the river, wider than 2 km in this area, flows into the ocean north of the Marennes-Oléron basin.