Russia is the largest country in the world, and also one of the most water-supplied. The country has huge reserves of fresh water. In total, about 2.5 million rivers, streams and streams flow through the territory of the Russian Federation. This article will tell you in detail about one of them called Vychegda. The Komi Republic and partially the Arkhangelsk Region are the territories where it flows.
Where does this name come from?
In the language of the Komi people, the name of the river sounds like Ezhva, which translates as "meadow water": "hedgehog" - meadow or grass, and "wa" - water.
The Russian name of the Vychegda River came from the combination of the ancient Ugric words "vycha" - greens, meadow, and "ohgt" - a river. When adapting to the Russian language, the last letter "a" was added to the words.
Thus, Vychegda is a river flowing through meadows. Also, sometimes the Komi people call it the "yellow river", since the water in it is always muddy.
Geography
We give basic geographic information about this reservoir. As mentioned above, Vychegda is a river that carries its waters along the plains in the taiga zone, mainly along the territory of the Komi Republic (85% of the basin) and partially in the Arkhangelsk region. You need to look for it on the map in the north of the European part of Russia. She is the largest tributary of the Northern Dvina, her right sleeve.
The length of the channel is 1130 kilometers, the basin area is more than 120 thousand square meters. km Almost all of its shores are covered with taiga forests, which are so rich in the Komi Republic. There are no rocks, cliffs, or rapids on the river; it flows freely, widely and leisurely along the plain with elevations from 120 to 150 meters. If river valleys are spreading, then alluvial valleys are compressed, narrow, without terraces.
Swamps are often found along the sandy channel, the slope of the river is very insignificant. The basin is composed of Permian deposits (clay, marl), from coal-limestone, over a large area composed of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, which in places overlap the Quaternary deposits.
The river course is very winding, for example, below the city of Syktyvkar, a reservoir, bypassing the Semukov Upland, bends in a steep arc towards the Vimy River - its right tributary. Directly between the ends of the arc is no more than 3 kilometers, and 30 kilometers will have to swim along the river. The winding relief of the Vychegda basin was formed as a result of many glaciations of the North Sea, especially its last attack on land.
Source and mouth
Vychegda is a river that forms at the confluence of the Voy-Vozhe and Lun-Vozhe streams that flow from the Dzur-Nyur swamp on the southern outskirts of the Timan Ridge. Source coordinates: 62 ° 19 's. w. and 55 ° 32 'in. d.
And where does the Vychegda River flow into? It carries its waters to the Northern Dvina, which flows into the city of Kotlas, which is 600 km away from Arkhangelsk. Coordinates of the mouth: 61 ° 17 's. w. and 46 ° 37 'in. d.
Hydrology
Food at Vychegda mixed. A large proportion is accounted for by snow (40-45%) and underground (34-40%), partly by rain (15%). Water availability ranges from 162 cubic meters per second near the village of Ust-Nem, 601 cubic meters per second near Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic, to 1160 cubic meters per second near the mouth.
The river is freed from ice in late April - early May. During the spring flood, the Vychegda level rises significantly - from 4 to 7 meters. Water floods the floodplain for many kilometers wide. In 1974 there was a particularly high flood when the level of the river rose by almost 8 meters. But the big water on Vychegda falls off quickly.
Upper Vychegda
The river is conditionally divided into Upper, Middle and Lower.
Upper Vychegda flows 346 km from the source to the confluence of the left tributary of the Nem. The pool of this site is a dissected hilly plateau up to 250 meters high. The width of the river valley in this place reaches 200 meters. The channel meanders all the way, has many small rapids and shallows, the current is quite fast - 0.7-0.8 meters per second.
Near the headwaters, the width of the river does not exceed 15 meters, but it gradually expands and reaches Nem at 100 meters. The average depth of the Upper Vychegda is 3 meters, and the greatest is 10 meters. The nutrition of this part of the river is underground and snowy, the water consumption at the village of Pomozdino is 50 cubic meters per second.
Medium Vychegda
It starts from the village of Ust-Nem and, running 488 km, ends at the confluence of the left tributary of Sysola (the Komi capital is Syktyvkar). First, the river runs along the Kerch Valley, lying between the hills of Zhezhimparm and Nemskaya, the middle part of the basin occupies a wide plain between the hills of Northern Uvaly and the Timan Ridge. Below the channel flows through a wide swampy lowland.
To the right of the river lies a lot of lakes (Sindorskoye, Donts). In the area of the tributaries Nem, Vym and North Keltma, karst is characteristic. The valley of the Middle Vychegda is spread over 10 kilometers, the floodplain is wide, often bilateral, overgrown with meadows, swampy in some places. A channel with a width of 100 to 700 meters has a sandy clay bottom, islands are found along its course, and the coast is strewn with pebbles.
The depths on the Vychegda River in this section are very variable - from 0.5 meters on the rifts to 6 meters on the reaches. The flow rate averages 0.5 meters per second, but in high water reaches 2 meters per second. Snow prevails (60%), the rest is rain and underground. Ust-Nem’s water consumption is 160 cubic meters per second, Syktyvkar’s 600 cubic meters per second. At spring flood, the river level in the water rises by 5-6 meters.
Lower Vychegda
It originates from its right tributary, the Vym River, running 296 kilometers to the mouth. In the lower reaches, the river becomes much larger and wider, but otherwise its landscape and hydrological conditions are very similar to those of the Middle Vychegda.
The bilateral floodplain still reaches 6-8 kilometers, but the valley expands to 40 kilometers. The banks on this section of the river are mostly sandy, clay islands with black stripes of peat are rarely exposed. Pebbles with stones are more common. There are especially many of them at the pier of Timasov Gora, along the ship's passage on the Upper Soyginsky and Slobodchikovsky Rifts, where a real stone ridge was formed.
The downstream feeding of the river is mostly snowy, with strong floods in spring.
Tributaries
1137 tributaries collect water for this reservoir. This does not include more than 23 thousand small streams, the length of which does not exceed 10 kilometers.
The main tributaries of the Vychegda River (the largest) are: Vym, Vol, Vishera, Yarenga and Yelva on the right, left branches - Viled, Sysola, Lokchim, North Keltma, Nem, South Mylva.
Part of the tributaries, for example, Vym and Northern Keltma, are the spawning grounds for salmon, and therefore have great fishery value.
Shipping
Vychegda is a navigable river. Navigation on it opens in the first week of May, and closes on the 20th of October. In spring, ships reach the Voldino marina (960 km), and in summer and autumn they reach the Ust-Kolom marina (693 km).
The largest berths: Yarensk, Mezhog, Solvychegodsk, Aikino, Ust-Kulom, Syktyvkar.
The complexity of shipping on Vychegda lies in the fact that its channel is very unstable, and the sands are too mobile. According to these indicators, this reservoir occupies the first place in Russia. Especially strongly Vychegda is washing the sandy coast near the populated points Oshlapye, Sharovitsa and Vyemkovo.
But rivers in the northern part of Russia have always been the main routes of communication, therefore, despite the difficulties, Vychegda is the main waterway in the region: in summer the population moves by water, and in winter - by ice.
Also, this river from spring to autumn is used for rafting the forest.
Settlements
Many cities were built along the river, many villages were scattered. The main settlements are: the capital of the Komi Republic, Syktyvkar, the suburban villages of Ezhva, Krasnozatonsky, Sedkirkesh, the township of Zheshart, the cities of Koryazhma, Solvychegodsk and Kotlas, the villages of Anufriyevka and Anikeevka, and other settlements.
Interesting Facts
The reservoir to which the article is dedicated is very rich in fish. Here are found sterlet, zander, perch, pike, bream, nelma, chub, ide, burbot, roach, gudgeon, ruff and other types of fish. The river feeds the entire population of Komi.
The comfortable passenger train of Russian Railways No. 24 with the Moscow-Syktyvkar service was at one time called Vychegda.
Now you know where the Vychegda River is and what are its main characteristics.