The Evolution of the Seine Basin Water
Bodies Through Historical Maps
Laurence Lestel, David Eschbach, Michel Meybeck, and Frédéric Gob
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2 The Physical Anthropogenic Transformation of the Seine River (1800–2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.1 Transformations of Seine Water Bodies in the Early 1800s and Their Drivers . . . . . . . 31
2.2 Current State of the Seine River Water Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3 Historical Maps: A Tool for Quantifying the Physical Changes of Water Bodies . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.1 The Inventory and Critical Analysis of River Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2 General Use of Maps to Document River Environmental Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4 Historical Trajectories of Selected Water Bodies in the Seine River Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.1 Stream Network Modification on the Versailles-Saclay Plateau (1670–1860) . . . . . . . 46
4.2 Man-Made Heterogeneity of the Floodplain: Channelisation and Sandpits
in the Bassée Floodplain . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 47
4.3 Simplification of Seine River Channel and Loss of Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5 Conclusion and Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Abstract The Seine River basin (65,000 km
2 ) is extremely rich in cartographic
documents generated over the past two centuries: general maps describing the
territory, fiscal land registries, navigation charts (e.g. bathymetric profiles and
maps), etc. After 1830 river engineers (Ponts et Chaussées) started to develop a
huge network of waterways, which were charted with precision and accuracy.
These documents, retrieved from various archives, have been checked, selected,
geo-referenced and digitalised within an open-access database (ArchiSeine). It
has allowed researchers to fully quantify the state of rivers, often in their lateral,
longitudinal and vertical dimensions, their long-term and slow natural dynamics
The copyright year of the original version of this chapter was corrected from 2019 to 2020.
A correction to this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2020_667
L. Lestel (*), D. Eschbach, and M. Meybeck
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, EPHE, UMR Metis, Paris, France
e-mail: laurence.lestel@sorbonne-universite.fr
F. Gob
Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, Meudon, France
Nicolas Flipo, Pierre Labadie, and Laurence Lestel (eds.), The Seine River Basin,
Hdb Env Chem (2021) 90: 29–58, https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2019_396,
© The Author(s) 2020, corrected publication 2020, Published online: 3 June 2020
29
Bodies Through Historical Maps
Laurence Lestel, David Eschbach, Michel Meybeck, and Frédéric Gob
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2 The Physical Anthropogenic Transformation of the Seine River (1800–2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.1 Transformations of Seine Water Bodies in the Early 1800s and Their Drivers . . . . . . . 31
2.2 Current State of the Seine River Water Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3 Historical Maps: A Tool for Quantifying the Physical Changes of Water Bodies . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.1 The Inventory and Critical Analysis of River Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2 General Use of Maps to Document River Environmental Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4 Historical Trajectories of Selected Water Bodies in the Seine River Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.1 Stream Network Modification on the Versailles-Saclay Plateau (1670–1860) . . . . . . . 46
4.2 Man-Made Heterogeneity of the Floodplain: Channelisation and Sandpits
in the Bassée Floodplain . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 47
4.3 Simplification of Seine River Channel and Loss of Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5 Conclusion and Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Abstract The Seine River basin (65,000 km
2 ) is extremely rich in cartographic
documents generated over the past two centuries: general maps describing the
territory, fiscal land registries, navigation charts (e.g. bathymetric profiles and
maps), etc. After 1830 river engineers (Ponts et Chaussées) started to develop a
huge network of waterways, which were charted with precision and accuracy.
These documents, retrieved from various archives, have been checked, selected,
geo-referenced and digitalised within an open-access database (ArchiSeine). It
has allowed researchers to fully quantify the state of rivers, often in their lateral,
longitudinal and vertical dimensions, their long-term and slow natural dynamics
The copyright year of the original version of this chapter was corrected from 2019 to 2020.
A correction to this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2020_667
L. Lestel (*), D. Eschbach, and M. Meybeck
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, EPHE, UMR Metis, Paris, France
e-mail: laurence.lestel@sorbonne-universite.fr
F. Gob
Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, Meudon, France
Nicolas Flipo, Pierre Labadie, and Laurence Lestel (eds.), The Seine River Basin,
Hdb Env Chem (2021) 90: 29–58, https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2019_396,
© The Author(s) 2020, corrected publication 2020, Published online: 3 June 2020
29