Everything about Ijssel totally explained
River IJssel, sometimes called
Gelderse IJssel ("
Gelderland IJssel") to avoid confusion with its
Hollandse IJssel namesake in the west of the Netherlands, is a branch of the
Rhine in the
Dutch provinces of Gelderland and
Overijssel. River IJssel flows from
Westervoort, east of the
city of
Arnhem, until it discharges into the
IJsselmeer ("Lake IJssel", until the
1932 completion of the
Afsluitdijk known as the
Zuiderzee, a
North Sea inlet). River IJssel is one of the three major
distributary branches into which the
Rhine divides itself shortly after crossing the
German-Dutch border, the other two being the rivers
Nederrijn and
Waal.
History
The name "IJssel" is thought to derive from the
Germanic i sala, meaning "dark water". A branch near its mouth (between Zwolle and Kampen) is today called
Zwarte Water, Dutch for "black water". In
medieval times, the
Zuiderzee hadn't yet formed from the complex of lakes known as Flevo; the IJssel flowed through these lakes with the last, tidal stretch being called
Vlie. Now cut off from the IJssel by means of the
Afsluitdijk, Vlie remains as the
strait separating the
islands of
Vlieland (itself named after the Vlie strait) and
Terschelling. It is hypothesised that the now-
poldered tidal inlets of
Medem (near
Medemblik) and
IJ (near
Amsterdam) once were branches of river IJssel.
The IJssel as the lower part of the Oude IJssel
The IJssel once was the lower part of the
Oude IJssel (lit. "Old IJssel",
German Issel), a small river that rises in Germany and is now a 70 km long tributary of the IJssel. The connection between Rhine and IJssel was probably artificial, allegedly dug by men under the
Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus as a defence against
Germanic tribes and to let Roman ships carry troops along it. The current Oude IJssel is the second-largest contributor to the flow of the river until today, after river Rhine.
The source of the Oude IJssel is near
Borken in
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. First it flows south-west until it nearly reaches the Rhine near
Wesel; then it turns north-west. After passing through
Isselburg it crosses the border with the Netherlands. The river, called Oude IJssel from here, then flows through
Doetinchem and joins the IJssel at Doesburg.
Characteristics
The average discharge of the IJssel can change significantly. The average discharge has been stated as 300 cubic meters per second. This can be as low as 140 and as high as 1800, depending on the Nederrijn
locks west of Arnhem, which regulate the amount of water taken in by the Nederrijn and IJssel branches.
As a lowlands river, the IJssel has a lot of bends and naturally occurring dead branches (locally called "hank"); some bends have been cut off by man (most notably near
Rheden and
Doesburg), reducing the river's length from 146 km to 125 km, but not nearly as radically as with river
Meuse. The naturally occurring phenomenon of sedimental island-forming in the outside of bends has been regulated to the point of non-occurrence since the late
nineteenth century.
The IJssel as a Rhine distributary
From the moment the connection between the Rhine and IJssel was dug, the Rhine became the largest contributor to the flow of the IJssel, although only a relatively small amount of the total Rhine flow makes its way into the IJssel system. Various tributaries can sometimes add a considerable volume of water to the total flow of the IJssel, such as the
Berkel and
Schipbeek streams. The IJssel river is the only branch of the that takes up tributary rivers rather than giving rise to distributaries.
Only in the last few miles of the river's run, near the city of
Kampen, distributaries form, resulting in the relatively minor IJssel delta. Some of the branches have been dammed up to lower the risk of
flooding; others have silted up. Several of the delta branches are, however, still connected without interruption. Most of the damming-up was done prior to
1932, when the Zuiderzee was turned into the freshwater
IJsselmeer lake. The area had been prone to flooding in times of northwestern
gales, pushing back the saline Zuiderzee water into the IJssel delta and preventing the water flowing from the mouths of the IJssel branches from discharging into the Zuiderzee.
The modern-day names of the delta branches are, west to east, Keteldiep, Kattendiep, Noorddiep, Ganzendiep and Goot. Of these, the Keteldiep and Kattendiep channels are the main navigational arteries; the Noorddiep has been closed off at both sides. Another branch, De Garste, had already completely silted up by the middle of the nineteenth century. Until the beginning of the
twentieth century, the Ganzendiep branch up to the Goot fork was known as IJssel proper.
The IJssel, although now technically "merely" a Rhine branch, has retained most of the character of a distinct river in its own right, in no small part due to the fact that it has its own tributaries and, in river Oude IJssel, even a former
headstream.
Tributaries and connecting canals
The following
canals and
tributary streams connect to the IJssel, in downstream order:
River crossings
Road bridges
Road bridges across river IJssel (with nearest places on the left and right bank):
Arnhem - Westervoort
Arnhem - Duiven (A12 motorway)
Ellecom - Doesburg (N317)
Brummen - Zutphen (N314)
Zutphen - Zutphen
Wilp - Deventer (A1 motorway)
Deventer - Deventer (N344)
Hattem - Zwolle
Hattemerbroek - Zwolle (A28 motorway)
Kampen - Kampen (N764)
Kampen - Kampen
Kampen - Noordoostpolder (N50)
Ralroad bridges
Railroad bridges (with nearest train station on the left and right bank):
Arnhem Velperpoort – Duiven
Brummen/Klarenbeek – Zutphen
Twello – Deventer
Wezep – Zwolle
Cable ferries
Only those ferries capable of carrying motorised vehicles are included.
Dieren – Olburgen
Brummen – Bronkhorst
Welsum – Olst
Vorchten – WijheFurther Information
Get more info on 'Ijssel'.
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