The Lule River report, by Nathalie van Oost
Read more about the Scandinavian Lüle river. About it’s problems and about its profits. The river, which flows from the western mountainous landscape to the eastern lowland area of Archaean geological origin. In the south and north there are extensive swamps.
Charecteristics
Length: 440 km
Precipitation: 380 mm
Temperature: -14 °C in winter to 14 °C
Problems
The Lüle is an important river since it flows through some of Sweden’s most beautiful national parks. Also the Lüle is one of Sweden’s power sources, since it is used for hydropower. 90 % of Sweden’s electricity is created by hydropower. And industries find suitable locations along the river for their production processes. The problem is whether the future of hydropower (a clean way of producing electricity) won’t someday collide with nature. It would be a great loss if the nature along the Lüle would be wasted, to improve the electricity production and industry.
Abstract
The Lüle River begins near the Norwegian border, in Norrbotten province in North Sweden. The river is 275 miles (440 km) long of which only the last 45 km of the river is navigable. It flows into the Gulf of Bothnia at Luleå. The Lule River is a powerful, life-giving artery for Norrbotten and the river in Sweden which is most harnessed for hydroelectric power. It has spectacular falls at Stora Sjöfallet, Porjus, and Harsprånget. Great power plants were constructed at Porjus (1910-14) and at Harsprånget (1945-52). The latter, with a 350,000-kw capacity, is one of Europe\'s largest. Both have harnessed much of the river\'s potential power, and have impounded huge lakes. About 90% electricity is produced by hydropower, which is one of de most important products in Sweden. Power from Porjus operates many industries in North Sweden, especially the iron mines at Kiruna and Gällivare. In Norrbotten there are iron en wood important products.
Hydro – electric power has always been important part of the world’s electricity supply, providing reliable, cost effective electricity, and will continue to do so in the future. Hydro - power has environmental impacts, which are very different from fossil fuel power plants. The future of hydro–electric power will depend upon future demand for electricity, as well as how societies value the environmental impacts of hydro – electric power compared to impacts of other sources of electricity. The river streams though the province Norrbotten. The area contains two landscape types: an eastern lowland area of Archaean geological origin and a western mountainous landscape. In the south and north there are extensive swamps. The lowland to the east consist of a monadnock plain that is to say a wide plain with isolated low, conical hills covered by taiga vegetation and lakes. In the Norrbotten in the national parks have high, steep mountains, deep valleys and powerful rivers. It contains more than 200 peaks over 1,800 m and some 100 glaciers. Despite the harsh and inhospitable climate of the mountain chain, there are areas that display an enormous richness of species, especially where the soil is rich in lime, so there grow 400 different vegetation species in this area. So forest products are manufactured and there is good salmon fishing. Several of the forest animals and plants live in the area of Norrbotten. For example the reindeer and the brown bear. The temperature in the winter periods is –14ºC and in the summer periods 14ºC. The annually rainfall is 380 mm.
The river streams through the different, oldest and largest national parks in Norrbotten. Together they cover over 6000 km2, which means that the national park parks in Norrbotten count for 95% of the area dedicated tot national parks in Sweden. The parks in the mountain region comprise 5500 km2. The different national parks where the rivers de Lule through streams are:
· National Park Padjelanta
· National Park Sarek
· National Park Stora Sjöfallet
· National Park muddus
· Gammelstadsviken Nature reserve
The National Counsel protected these national parks for Environmental control (NCE). This is an independent department of the government, which falls under Ministry of Agriculture.
The R. Luleälv vales is partitioned into five regions:
1. Coastal plains and valleys with fine – grained sediments. The bedrock consists mainly of gneiss and granite, and the vegetation is mainly coniferous forest of blueberry and bog types
2. The undulating hilly terrain with middle boreal forest areas. Here, gneiss and granite also dominate bedrock. Some parts of this region lie below the highest shoreline (HK). The region is dominates by river valleys below the highest shoreline. The climate is continental with moderate precipitation and the vegetation period is between 120 and 140 days.
3. The Coniferous Region and monadnock plateau of Northern Norrland. As with the regions referred to above, gneiss and granite dominate the bedrock of this region, but there is also some pre – Cambrian metamorphous rocks. The monad plateau is fairly open landscape without radical differences in elevation. The valleys are wide and flat, with the notable exception of the valley of the R. Stora Luleälv, downstream L. Stora Lulevatten. Moraine is the dominating soil type and often rather coarse moraine. A common trait is the eskers, which run parallel to the river valleys.
Temperatures are somewhat lower in general than near the coast. Precipitation is low, and climate is continental type. The region comprises both middle and north boreal areas. Vegetation consists mainly of mixed coniferous forests and pine forests with lichens, lingonberries and heather. Mires are frequent in the area.
4. Coniferous forest Region of North Lapland. The bedrock of the region mainly consists of granite and granulites with porphyrous elements. The terrain is mainly monadnock plateau with elements of mountain foothill areas. The mountains in de Western apart of the region are the lågjäll types. Climate is continental with precipitation. Vegetation is varied with alpine vegetation, birch forests, coniferous forest and mires.
5. The High Alpine Region. This region is dominated by the Caledonian mountain range. The western part can be characterised as high alpine terrain with heavy relief and high peaks (especially in the Sarek area. The climate is cooling oceanic with high humidity in the Western part. The growing period is between 100 and 120 days.
Links
http://www.eg.umu.se/river/lulealveng.html
http://www.imia.com/documents/hydro.htm#1
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