| _river | |
| river_name | Hers-Vif
|
| image_name |
|
| caption |
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| origin | Pyrenees
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| mouth | Ariège
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| basin_countries | France
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| length | 130 km
|
| elevation | ±1500 m
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| discharge | 15 m³/s
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| watershed | 1,350 km²
|
The
Hers-Vif ("Live Hers", as opposed to the slower flowing
Hers-Mort, "Dead Hers"), also named ''Grand Hers'' or simply ''Hers'', is a 130 km long
river in Southern
France, right tributary of the
Ariège River.
The Hers-Vif rises at a height of ±1500 m near the
Chioula Pass of the
Pyrenees, approximately 6 km north of
Ax-les-Thermes. It is the major tributary of the
Ariège into whose right bank it flows 2 km upstream from
Cintegabelle in the
Haute-Garonne.
It flows some 30 kilometers through the Pyrenees, descending 1100 m to the village of Peyrat which it reaches a piedmont plain. Its valley widens as it traverses the plain, reaching the medieval city of
Mirepoix which marks the start of its lower valley.
Several rivers flow into it:
From the Pyrenees: the Lasset; the Fontaine de Fontestorbes; the Touyre
From the piedmont plain and hills: the Blau and the Douctouyre;
From the hills of Lauragais and Razès: the Ambronne and the Vixiège.
Departments and towns along its course are:
Ariège: Prades, Bélesta, La Bastide-sur-l'Hers, Mirepoix, Mazères
Aude: Comus, Chalabre
Haute-Garonne: Calmont