Large rivers and lakes of Kamchatka. Water resources of Kamchatka. Different sections of the river

It flows into the Kamchatka Bay of the Bering Sea of ​​the Pacific Ocean. In some parts of its channel, Kamchatka is suitable for navigation.

The settlements of Milkovo, Klyuchi and the port of Ust-Kamchatsk are located on the river.

Geography

The length of the river is 758 km, the basin area is 55,900 km². It originates in the mountains of the central part of the peninsula and before confluence with the Pravaya river is called Lake Kamchatka.

From the confluence of the Right and Ozernaya Kamchatka to the very mouth, along the river bank, the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Ust-Kamchatsk highway passes.

In the upper reaches it has a mountainous character with numerous rifts and rapids. In the middle reaches, the river enters the Central Kamchatka lowland and changes its character to a flat one.

In this area at Kamchatka a very winding channel, in some places it breaks into branches. In the lower reaches, the river, bending around the Klyuchevskaya Sopka massif, turns to the east; in the lower reaches it crosses the Kumroch ridge.

At the mouth, the river forms a delta, consisting of numerous channels separated by sand and pebble spits. The delta configuration changes all the time.

At the confluence of the river Kamchatka it is connected to the ocean by the Ozernaya channel with Lake Nerpichye, which is the largest lake in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The peninsula north of the delta is also named after the river - the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Nature

The river is rich in fish, it is a spawning ground for many valuable species of salmon, including chinook salmon, so industrial and amateur fishing is carried out.

In the pool Kamchatka also there are introduced silver carp, Amur carp, Siberian baleen char. The river is often used by tourists for water trips from Ust-Kamchatsk.

The river valley is the place of the greatest distribution of coniferous forests on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The species growing here are the Okhotsk larch ( Larix ochotensis) and Ayan spruce ( Picea ajanensis).

tributaries

The river has a large number of tributaries, both to the right and to the left along the stream. The largest tributaries: Kensol, Andrianovka, Zhupanka, Kozyrevka, Elovka - left; Kitilgina, Vahvina Left, Urts - right. The most significant of them is the Yelovka River.

The Kamchatka River is the largest waterway of the peninsula bearing the same name. Itelmen name - Uykoal, can be translated as "Big River". It flows into the Pacific Ocean and has a length of 758 km. Its source is in the mountains, from where the water flows down in a stream, forming Ozernaya Kamchatka. Having merged with the Right River, it becomes a single stream with it. Flowing in the mountainous part of its path, Kamchatka forms many rapids and rifts, here its course is quite stormy and noisy.

The mouth of the Kamchatka River on the peninsula

In the middle section, it becomes flat, with a more phlegmatic character. This section is the longest. However, here the channel is not distinguished by calm predictability, in some places it is very winding. A single stream is divided into arms, covering wider spaces. Approaching the ocean, the river goes around the Klyuchevskoy massif, flows to the east, crosses the Kumroch ridge and becomes delta-shaped at the very mouth, dividing into many channels. They are separated by spits, mostly composed of sand and pebbles.

Flowing into the Pacific Ocean, Kamchatka forms a channel connecting it with Lake Nerpichye, the largest on the peninsula. The river has islands all along its path. There are a large number of them, but they are not large in size, mostly sandy and have no vegetation, except for grass and in some places willow. On the flat territory, the river flows for more than 30 km through the Bolshiye Shcheki gorge, forming steep rocky banks of breathtaking beauty. Such a landscape arises due to the fact that the river intersects with the spurs of the Kamchatka Range.

The Kamchatka basin includes more than seven thousand small rivers. It is in these tributaries that spawning of fish, mainly salmon, takes place. The largest tributaries are Elovka, Shchapina, Kozyrevka. The river is fed from groundwater, precipitation, snow. Snow and underground (sedimentary) nutrition is approximately 35% (each), about 28% of water comes from glaciers. In winter, Kamchatka freezes over, freezing begins in November, and ice drifts in May.

The nature of the river and the processes occurring in it are greatly influenced by the seismic activity of the region and volcanism. When eruptions occur, glaciers melt and mudflows rush down into the river. The strongest mudflow that has existed in the last 100 years was the mudflow that arose after the eruption of the Nameless volcano in 1956. Streams of mud and stones spread far along one of the tributaries of Kamchatka.

Fish spawning on the Kamchatka River

Kamchatka flows in both mountainous and flat areas; its course is accompanied by coniferous and floodplain forests and shrubs. Of the conifers, Ayan spruce and larch are mainly common. Poplar, alder, willow, etc. grow in the upper and close to it middle reaches of the river, in addition to conifers. The lower course is more swampy, here shrubs and grasses predominate along the banks.

The area around the river is rich in fauna. There are many birds, among which you can see gulls, cormorants, partridges and other species. Moose, deer, wolves, muskrats and other animals live in coastal forests. The owner of these places is the Kamchatka bear. During spawning near the tributaries of Kamchatka, the number of bears increases many times.

The main treasure of the river is its fish stocks. Salmon and other fish spawn here. This significant event takes place at the end of summer, attracting many bears to the shores. Freshwater valuable fish live here permanently. Some of them, for example, silver carp or Amur carp, were specially introduced into these waters and took root, give birth and are the object of fishing. Lamprey, sterlet, Pacific herring, char, Kamchatka grayling, flounder, etc. live in the river basin.

Fishing occurs both on an industrial scale and individually. Amateur fishermen specially come to Kamchatka to fish here with pleasure, which you will not find in such abundance in other places. In late June - early July, the most favorable period for catching chinook salmon. Sockeye salmon is perfectly caught at the turn of July and August. Throughout August, there is chum salmon, and from the end of August almost until November - coho salmon.

Pond use

In addition to fishing, people actively use the river for other purposes. As the largest water artery of the peninsula, closer to the mouth it is used in navigation: the depth reaches 5 m, so the conditions are favorable for this. The river is also of great importance in the tourism sector. In addition to the beauties that people come to admire, it makes it possible to make tourist water trips. The beginning of the route is Ust-Kamchatsk or the village of Klyuchi.

Since ancient times, people settled around the river. Archaeologists find traces of ancient settlements. Russian Cossacks who arrived here in the 17th century reported that in the valley of the Kamchatka River there are many yurts, which were the dwellings of local peoples. The Cossacks themselves built wooden prisons, almost all of them then grew into cities and towns. The fact that people settled in these places is largely due to the fertility of the soil, which makes it possible to engage in agriculture.

The Kamchatka River, sometimes fast in its course, sometimes majestically calm, full of fish, surrounded by unique landscapes, is one of the decorations of the peninsula, which also has practical significance.

Our routes along the Kamchatka River

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The largest river in the region. Its length is more than 750 km, the Itelmen name is Uykoal, which means “Big River”. Kamchatka has two sources: the left one, originating in the Sredinny Range (Ozernaya Kamchatka River), and the right one in the Eastern Range (Right Kamchatka River). Merging within the Ganal tundra, they give rise to the Kamchatka River itself. It flows to the north, but in the area of ​​the village of Klyuchi it turns sharply to the east and flows into the Kamchatka Bay, forming a wide mouth, the fairway of which is constantly changing.

Kamchatka is the only river of the region that has a navigable value. Currently, Kamchatka is used for navigation for 200 km. from the mouth. In the lower course, the depths on the stretches during low water reach 5-6 m, on the rifts about 2 m.

The Kamchatka basin occupies the Central Kamchatka depression, between the Sredinny ridge in the west and the Valagin ridge in the east. The large size of the river determines that more than 80% of its length falls on a flat channel. In the upper reaches, the channel is mountainous and semi-mountainous, with numerous branchings typical of Kamchatka rivers.

Within the flat channel there are several special and extremely intriguing areas. This is the famous Bolshiye Shcheki gorge, in which the river flows for 35 km and has almost sheer rocky shores, which any “untwisted” canyon in North America can envy. Their development here is associated with the river crossing the spurs of the Kamchatka Range. The river also very picturesquely crosses the spurs, where, already being a large flat river, it forms two large rapids - Krekurlinsky and Pingrinsky.

The Kamchatka River has the largest fish resources. All types of salmon fish come to spawn: pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), kunja (Salvelinus leucomaenis). A wide variety of residential forms of fish: char (Salvelinus), mykizha (Parasalmo mykiss), Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma), grayling (Thymallus arcticus pallasi), cyprinids, even sturgeons are found.

A huge number of tributaries flow into Kamchatka. The largest of them, Shchapina,. Kamchatka and its numerous tributaries carry a large amount of alluvial material.

The Kamchatka River is not only the most powerful water artery, but also the history of the region. Its valley has been densely populated since ancient times. The well-known archaeologist N. N. Dikov, working in the valley, discovered ancient settlements. The greatest habitation of this river valley was also noted by Russian explorers. V. Atlasov in his “tales” reported: “And how they sailed along Kamchatka - there are many foreigners on both sides of the river, great settlements.” The Cossacks sent for reconnaissance reported that from the mouth to the sea in a section of 150 km there were 160 prisons, and in each of them 150-200 people lived in one or two yurts. According to the most conservative estimate, about 25 thousand people lived in the Kamchatka valley.

Used sources:

Data collected and processed by Batalov D.

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Kamchatka is a peninsula in the northeastern part of the Eurasian continent on the territory of the Russian Federation, elongated in the meridional direction for 1200 km, with a total area of ​​472.3 thousand km.

It is washed from the west by the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, from the east by the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and the indented shores of the peninsula form large bays: Avachinsky, Kronotsky, Kamchatsky, Ozernoy, Karaginsky, Korfa, as well as bays: Avachinskaya, Karaga, Ossora, etc. In the central part The peninsula has two parallel ranges - the Sredinny Ridge and the Vostochny Ridge, and between them is the Central Kamchatka Lowland, where the largest river of the peninsula, the Kamchatka, flows.

The main watershed is the Sredinny Ridge, from where the rivers originate. From the western slopes of the Sredinny Range flow rivers belonging to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk basin, and from the eastern slopes of the ridge - the rivers of the Bering Sea basin or flowing into the Pacific Ocean. The rivers of the peninsula are divided into: ridge, key and tundra. The ridge rivers are mountainous in nature, they are fed by the melting of snow and glaciers, they are distinguished by a very high water content. Key rivers have low water flow and in winter they do not freeze. Tundra rivers flow through swampy lowlands. The Kamchatka rivers have slow self-purification processes, so the discharge of untreated wastewater containing organic pollution should be prohibited.

Kamchatka is characterized by a dense hydrographic network. More than 6 thousand large and small rivers flow on its territory, but only a few of them have a length of more than 200 km and only 7 - over 300 km. The largest river of the peninsula is Kamchatka, with a length of more than 750 km.

Many rivers along their entire length have a stormy character with rapids and waterfalls. The largest of them: Kamchatka and Bolshaya - are navigable only in the lower estuarine part, where sandy spits fenced off from the ocean form estuaries.

Volcanic regions are characterized by "dry" rivers, in which water appears only for a short time during the snowmelt period. Many rivers have long been chosen by lovers of water travel. The most popular are short rafting with fishing on the rivers: Kamchatka, Zhupanova, Bystraya (Malkinskaya), Kol, Karymchina, Left Avacha, Opala, Pymta, Elovka, Tigil ...

Other rivers: Right and Left Avacha, Fast (Essovskaya), Left Shchapina, Nalycheva are of sport interest for experienced tourists.

The lakes of the peninsula are numerous and diverse in their origin. On the lowlands and in the estuarine floodplains of some rivers, small swampy, often overgrown lakes are scattered. One of them is Lake Nalychevo.

Higher, lakes are common, lying in depressions of a hilly relief formed by terminal moraines during the glaciation of Kamchatka. The largest of them are Lake Nachikinskoe and Dvuhyurtochnoe.

The formation of many lakes is associated with volcanic activity. Some of them are located in depressions during the subsidence of individual sections of the earth's surface above devastated magma chambers or at the bottom of explosive funnels, such as lakes Kurilskoe and Karymskoe; lakes in volcanic craters: Ksudach, Khangar, Uzon; deep tectonic depressions, such as Lake Azhabachye.

The largest lake in Kamchatka, Kronotskoye, was formed in the river valley, blocked by powerful lava flows of the Krasheninnikov volcano.

A large amount of precipitation, the presence of permafrost, snow melting in the mountains for a long time, low evaporation, and mountainous relief cause the development of an exceptionally dense hydro network within the Kamchatka Territory.

There are 140,100 rivers and streams in Kamchatka, but only 105 of them are longer than 100 km. Despite the insignificant depth, the rivers are exceptionally full-flowing.

The Kamchatka River (758 km long) and the Penzhina River (713 km) stand out sharply in size. Most Kamchatka rivers flow in a latitudinal direction, which is due to the meridional character of the main watersheds: the Sredinny and Vostochny ranges.

The Kamchatka rivers are mountainous in their upper reaches and calm in the plains. When flowing into the sea, many of them usually wash up spits, and at the mouths - underwater shafts, bars.

Within the mountains, the rivers flow in relatively narrow V-shaped valleys with steep slopes and have a fast, often rapids flow. The bottom and slopes of the valleys are composed of coarse clastic material (boulders, pebbles, gravel). As the rivers approach the plains, the size of the material composing the valleys and river beds decreases; The flow of rivers slows down and becomes calmer.

In general terms, coastal lowlands are a combination of flat wetlands, concentrated mainly near the coast, undulating, hilly interfluve areas and wide river valleys. Within the hilly-ridged plains, the riverbeds branch into channels and branches, and on the coastal lowlands they form many bends and old rivers.

Mountain rivers are distributed exclusively within mountainous regions. Basically, they correspond to the upper sections of the rivers, however, this regularity is violated on large rivers. Often, when crossing the spurs of the ridges, the rivers in the middle and even the lower reaches acquire a mountainous character of the flow due to the large slopes of the valley.

Rivers within mountainous regions with maximum elevation differences have rapids-waterfall channels. They are characterized by the alternation of rapids and waterfalls with segments of stagnant zones. Such rivers are distinguished, as a rule, by their small size, flowing along the bottom of the ravines with steep slopes. The length of such sections ranges from a few percent of the entire length of the river (if the river flows downstream into the foothills and onto the plain) to 100% (small rivers and streams flowing throughout their entire length within mountainous regions).

With the gradual leveling of the relief, rapids and waterfalls disappear, but the nature of the current remains turbulent. In addition, as tributaries flow in, the size and flow of rivers (i.e., the amount of water flowing through the cross section of the river in a certain period of time) increase. For such rivers, the most characteristic is a rectilinear form of the channel with separate single islands and forced bends (bends of the river channel). The formation of such bends is due to the fact that the river flow tends to go around the rocky ledges, composed of strong, indestructible rocks, and thereby acquires a sinuous shape.

In some areas, mountain rivers form large erosion pits, the depth of which is tens of times greater than the average depth of the river. Such pits are good hiding places for fish, since the current speeds in them are sharply reduced.

On the large rivers of Kamchatka, one can also observe areas with a rapid flow of the stream. Narrow valleys with steep slopes, high flow velocities (> 1 m/s) may be due to the constriction of rivers by spurs of mountain ranges. On rivers that generally do not differ in deep and gentle channels, there are constantly areas with a significant slope, leading to a sharp increase in flow rates, which, due to the shallow depth and rockiness of the channels, makes the flow turbulent. Such rivers, as a rule, flow in a single channel and only a few islands divide the flow into branches. The islands here are high, they are clusters of large pebbles, overgrown with birch and alder bushes. Above and below the islands, open pebble banks form.

The most beautiful banks of mountain rivers attract attention. When approaching close to the ridges, they take the form of high rocky ledges. Mosses and lichens growing on them give the rocks a red-brown or green color.

During the transition from mountainous conditions to plains, the steepness of river valleys and the speed of the current sharply decrease. For these reasons, the flow power becomes insufficient to move river sediments (boulders, pebbles). This material is deposited directly in the river channel, forming a kind of islands, called cores. As a result, a bizarre and very dynamic pattern is formed from many ducts separated by islands. These types of channels are most common in the lower reaches of small rivers.

Another distinctive feature of these rivers is the presence of a large amount of driftwood (logs and branches of various sizes) in the channel, which is associated with the rivers entering the forest area. During periods of spring snowmelt, as well as after heavy rains, the water level in the rivers and the speed of the current increase, the flow of water intensively erodes the banks. As a result, a huge amount of woody material enters the river and is deposited downstream on the shallows - near the islands or coastal spits. That is why the largest creases (clusters of branches, writhing, as well as whole tree trunks) lead to the breaking of the river into channels, some of which have a direction opposite to the main flow of the river.

Thermal springs "Vilyuchinsky" consist of two groups of springs with water temperature from 40 ° to 60 ° C, located in the picturesque valley of the Vilyucha River among small-leaved forests and shrubs; the springs are decorated with travertine domes and dense colonies of thermophilic algae with specific biological communities; the slopes of the river valley are convenient for skiing; and just above the springs, the river forms a beautiful waterfall 40 m high.

The Nalychevo thermal springs, the largest thermal carbonic springs in Kamchatka, are discharged in the area between the Goryachaya and Zheltaya rivers over an area of ​​more than 2 km 2 . At the foot of Mount Kruglaya, deposits of springs formed a huge travertine shield with an area of ​​more than 50,000 km 2 with a dome composed of carbonate and ferruginous-arsenic sediments (the dome was called the "cauldron"). Along its periphery, many hot springs emerge, forming a stream. The dome is surrounded by thermal swamps.

In the Goryachaya floodplain, for 2.5 km, the outlets of the term are concentrated in the form of short hot streams flowing into a cold river, as well as in the form of small lakes, puddles and swamps. In these streams and lakes, extensive colonies of thermophilic algae have grown, forming multi-colored dense mats - pillows. The same sources are located on the Zheltaya River, 600 m from the mouth.

Talovye hot springs are located 6 km from Nalychevskie on the left side of the Porozhistaya valley. The exits are traced for 1 km, their temperature is 31-38°C, the total visible flow rate is 6 l/sec. Installed hidden unloading in alluvium. The main outlets of the springs - the so-called "Talovy boiler" - are located in a clearing in a dense birch forest. Here, at the foot of the hill, two bright orange travertine cones 45 m in diameter and 13 m high have formed. Warm streams flow down the surface of the travertines. The space between the domes and at the foot is swampy.

The water of the Talovye hot springs belongs to the same hydrochemical type as the Nalychevo springs, but the content of sulfate and bicarbonate in it is somewhat higher. In addition, arsenic deposits are more abundant in travertines from melted springs. Finally, unlike the water of the Nalychevo springs, the water of the Talovyh springs is pleasant to the taste.

Local history thermal springs come out along the banks of the Talovaya River 2 km upstream of its confluence with the Shaibnaya River. The distance to the Nalychevo springs is 8 km. Outcrops of thermal waters in the form of individual griffins and weak seeps can be traced in the swampy floodplain of the river for 100 m. with more mineralization. Local lore baths do not deposit travertines; their gas composition contains more nitrogen.

Verkhne-Zhirovsky steam jets and springs are located in the upper reaches of the Zhirovaya River, on its left bank. The area where sources and steam jets exit is a hard-to-reach gorge with very steep sides several hundred meters high. Thermal springs and steam jets are scattered over a large area. Almost all of them are located on steep slopes or in steeply falling gullies. Three areas are distinguished, in which, as in the areas of the Severo-Mutnovsky thermal baths, there are steam jets, and mud boilers, and heated areas with a boiling point, and down the slope, at the water's edge in the Zhirovaya River, there are springs with a temperature of 60-72 °C. The chemical composition of steam condensate is sulfate-calcium-sodium with a low total mineralization of 0.2-0.5 g/l.