Oude Maas

The Oude Maas is a distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Maas River, within the Dutch province of South Holland. It begins at the metropolis of Dordrecht wherein the Beneden Merwede river splits into the Noord River and the Oude Maas. It ends when it joins the Nieuwe Maas to form Het Scheur. During the early Middle Ages the principle drift of the Maas accompanied the current Oude Maas. During the later Middle Ages, a flooding event triggered the Oude Maas to hook up with the Merwede rivers. From that moment on, the Oude Maas was fed by means of both the Maas and the Rhine.

However, after the St. Elizabeth's floods the Merwede determined a brand new and shorter path to the sea the present day Hollands Diep. As a end result, the Oude Maas turned into devoid from lots of the inflow of sparkling water and changed right into a brackish estuary. When the drift of the Merwede become better distributed among its decrease branches because of synthetic means, the Oude Maas was yet again a first-rate distributary branch of both the Maas and Rhine.