Self-development 

Large rivers flowing through the territory of the European part. Russian rivers. the largest and longest rivers in Russia

The river network is most developed in the northern part of the region, in the zone of excessive moisture (forest zone). As we move south, the surface and underground runoff decreases more and more, the amount of precipitation decreases, the relative evaporation losses increase, underground waters lie deeper, etc. In accordance with this, the river network becomes less and less, and in arid steppes and especially already vast drainless spaces appear in the semi-desert, that is, areas devoid of permanent rivers.

The hydrographic network in such places is represented by dry channels that operate for a short time during the period of snowmelt or heavy rains. Large rivers - the Volga and the Dnieper - flowing through the steppe spaces, receive only relatively small tributaries and little increase their water content. In the semi-desert zone, they even lose some of their water to evaporation and filtration (the Volga below Volgograd, the Urals).

In the steppe and forest-steppe zones, especially in areas where loess soils are distributed, a ravine-gully network has been widely developed, representing a dense network of temporary watercourses that operate only during the period of snowmelt or heavy rainfall. In some places, the rapidly growing network of ravines causes great damage to agriculture, destroying fertile black earth soils.

Most of the watercourses of the region are among the typical lowland rivers. They usually have well-developed valleys with wide, often swampy floodplains, abundant lakes and old rivers. Their current velocities and slopes are also low, not exceeding 0.1-0.3°/oo. Sharp fractures of the longitudinal profile are rare and confined to places of shallow occurrence of bedrock, cut in some places by rivers. There are a large number of unstable sandy rifts in the riverbeds.

On large rivers (Volga, Don, Dnieper, etc.), the asymmetry of the slopes of the valleys is clearly expressed: the right bank is usually high and steep, the left is gentle and low. The explanation for this is found in the deviation of the flow of rivers to the right under the influence of the rotation of the Earth (the Coriolis force).

The main river of the Black Sea-Caspian slope is the Volga, followed by the Dnieper and Don. Among the major rivers is also in the southeast - the Urals.

The Volga is one of the largest rivers: Europe. Among the rivers of Russia, it occupies the sixth place, yielding in terms of catchment area only to the Siberian giant rivers - the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur and Irtysh. It originates on the Valdai Hills, where the source is taken as a key, fastened with a wooden frame near the village of Volgine. The source mark is 225 m above sea level. The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea. The length of the river is 3690 km, the basin area is 1380000 km2.

In terms of its catchment area (220,000 km 2) and length (2,530 km), the Urals is one of the largest rivers in the European part of Russia. It originates in the Southern Urals near the source of the river. White (left tributary of the Kama) and initially flows straight south. Near the city of Orsk, it turns sharply to the west, and, having passed in a latitudinal direction of about 850 km, in the region of the city of Uralsk it again turns south almost at a right angle and maintains this direction until it flows into the Caspian Sea. According to these three main directions, the Urals are usually divided into three sections: the upper one - from the source to the city of Orsk, the middle one - between the cities of Orsk and Uralsk, and the lower one - from the city of Uralsk to the mouth.

Economic importance and use of the rivers of the southeastern part of the region

Of the rivers in the southeastern part of the region, the Urals are of the greatest importance, the waters of which in the upper reaches are widely used for water supply to cities and enterprises of the industrial Urals. A number of reservoirs have been built here, supplying water to Magnitogorsk, the Orsk-Khalilovsky plant and other cities and industrial enterprises. In the lower reaches, the Ural is used for navigation.

In terms of the catchment area of ​​422,000 km 2, the Don ranks fourth among the rivers of the European part of Russia, second only to the Volga, Dnieper and Kama. The length of the river is 1970 km. The source of the Don is located in the northern part of the Central Russian Upland, at an altitude of about 180 m above sea level. For its beginning, the place of exit from the lake was previously taken. Ivan. In reality, there is usually no runoff from Ivan Lake to the Don. For the origins of the Don, it is customary to consider the keys located somewhat south of the lake. Ivan.

The Dnieper is the third largest river in the European part of the country after the Volga and Kama. It originates in the Smolensk region from a moss swamp (near the village of Kletsovo), at an altitude of about 220 m above sea level. Flowing through the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, the Dnieper collects water from a vast basin with an area of ​​503,000 km 2. The length of the river from its source to its confluence with the Dnieper-Bug Estuary of the Black Sea is 2285 km.

The Dnieper is one of the lowland rivers. The river valley is well developed and has a wide floodplain, where the channel is divided into numerous branches. By the nature of the valley and channel, as well as by a number of other features, the Dnieper is usually divided into three sections: the upper one - from the source to the city of Kyiv, the middle one - from the city of Kyiv to the city of Zaporozhye and the lower one - from the city of Zaporozhye to the mouth.

The Upper Dnieper covers most of the basin (approximately 65%), located in the forest zone and characterized by the most developed river network. Above the city of Kyiv, its large tributaries flow into the Dnieper: the Berezina, Sozh, Pripyat and Desna. In this part of the basin, the main flow of the river is formed, more than 80% of the total flow already passes in the alignment of Kyiv. From the source and almost to the city of Orsha, the Dnieper flows along the border of the penultimate glaciation. Here, in some places, when crossing the moraine ridges, the river valley narrows and the river forms rapids, full of boulders.

5 km above the city of Orsha, the Dnieper crosses a ridge of gray sandstone and forms the well-known Kobelyak rapids, which are a significant obstacle to navigation in low water.

Below the city of Orsha, up to the city of Kyiv, the Dnieper flows along the bottom of a wide valley, reaching in places a width of 10-14 km. Among the vast, sometimes swampy floodplain, the Dnieper channel forms numerous bends.

A characteristic feature of the middle Dnieper is a pronounced asymmetric valley, the right root bank of which is high and steep, and the left bank is gentle and low. Here the river, as it were, presses its right bank against the Volyn-Podolsk upland and goes around it. On the left, an ancient terrace adjoins the Dnieper, which looks like a wide, gently sloping plain. The main tributaries of the middle Dnieper are Sula, Psel, Vorskla. In the lower part of this section, from the city of Dnepropetrovsk to the city of Zaporozhye, the Dnieper crosses the Azov-Podolsky crystalline massif for 90 km in its lowest part. Here were the famous Dnieper rapids with a total drop of more than 32 m, which for many centuries was an obstacle to navigation.

During the years of Stalin's five-year plans, the most powerful hydroelectric power station in Europe, the Dneproges, was created in the region of the Dnieper rapids; its 37 m high dam completely blocked the rapids, forming a reservoir in their place, named after V. I. Lenin. So, in those days, the problem of improving the navigation conditions of the Dnieper was radically solved.

Below the Dnieper hydroelectric power station, the Dnieper enters the Black Sea lowland. The terrain along both banks of the river takes on a steppe, flat character. The slope of the river becomes insignificant (0.09-0.05°/oo); the total drop from Zaporozhye to the mouth is only 14 m. The riverbed is divided into many branches, forming flat sandy islands overgrown with reeds. These are the so-called Dnieper floodplains, which are up to 20 km wide and limited on the left side of the river. Konka, which makes up the boundary of the left floodplain of the Dnieper.

Below the city of Kherson, the Dnieper forms a delta, flowing into the Dnieper Estuary with many branches. Having a large catchment area, the Dnieper is not characterized by high water content. Its average annual water flow at its mouth is 1700 m 3 /sec, which corresponds to a runoff modulus of 3.1 l/sec km 2. In terms of its water content, the Dnieper ranks sixth among the rivers of the European part of the former Soviet Union, yielding not only to the Volga and Kama, but also to the Pechora, Northern Dvina and Neva. With a catchment area slightly inferior to the Kama, the average annual water flow of the Dnieper is about 2 times less than the flow of the latter.

As on other rivers of the European part, the Dnieper experiences a high spring flood, which is formed due to the melting of snow accumulated over the winter in its basin. More than 50% of the total annual flow passes in spring. The peak of the flood in the upper reaches is in mid-April, and in the lower reaches - in early May. After the passage of the flood, the level in the river drops sharply and during June, July and August there is a low low water. The lowest level is observed in July.

The amplitude of level fluctuations is quite significant, especially in the upper reaches. In the Smolensk region, for example, it reaches 12 m. Below is information on the length, catchment areas, and water discharges of the main tributaries of the Dnieper (Table 1).

Table 1. Information on the main tributaries of the Dnieper

River use. The Dnieper has long played an important role in the economic life of our country. Back in the 10th-12th centuries, the famous route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed along it.

Navigation begins on the section of the upper Dnieper near the city of Dorogobuzh and is carried out along the rest of the river. The importance of the Dnieper as a waterway especially increased after the construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric power station, when the Dnieper basin received direct communication with the sea. With the help of connecting water systems, the Dnieper is connected with adjacent basins: the Berezinsky system connects it with the Western Dvina basin, the Dnieper-Neman canal - with the Neman basin, the Dnieper-Bug Canal - with the Western Bug basin.

It should be noted that these Black Sea-Baltic water systems, built at the beginning of the last century, are unsuitable for modern navigation. The rivers included in the systems (Neman and Zapadnaya Dvina) are not regulated and, differing in rapids, are inaccessible for through navigation. During the Patriotic War, the structures of the Dnieper-Bug Canal were destroyed, but restored after the war.

The rivers of Russia, like a web, have enveloped the entire territory of the country, because their total number, from the smallest to the largest, is more than 2.5 million. We will not list all of them in this article. And just make a list of the largest, longest, largest rivers in Russia, their names. And we will try to describe each of them separately, especially fishing. After all, rivers are of great interest from the angler's point of view, and there are a lot of them.

Top 10 longest rivers in Russia flowing under one name:

№ river name Total length km. Where does it flow
1 Lena 4400 Laptevih sea
2 Irtysh 4248 Ob
3 Ob 3650 Ob Bay of the Kara Sea
4 Volga 3531 Caspian Sea
5 Yenisei 3487
6 Lower Tunguska 2989 Yenisei
7 Amur 2824
8 Vilyuy 2650 Lena
9 Ishim 2450 Irtysh
10 Ural 2422 Caspian Sea

Top 10 Russian rivers by total catchment area, thousand km2:

№ river name Basin area: sq/km Where does it flow
1 Ob 2 990 000 Ob Bay of the Kara Sea
2 Yenisei 2 580 000 Yenisei Bay of the Kara Sea
3 Lena 2 490 000 Laptevih sea
4 Amur 1 855 000 Amur Estuary, Sea of ​​Okhotsk
5 Volga 1 360 000 Caspian Sea
6 Kolyma 643 000 East-Siberian Sea
7 Dnieper 504 000 Black Sea
8 Don 422 000 Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov
9 Khatanga 364 000 Khatanga Bay of the Laptev Sea
10 Indigirka 360 000 East-Siberian Sea

List of the largest rivers in Russia, and fishing on them:

BUT Abakan Agul Ai Aksai Alatyr
Amur Anadyr Angara Akhtuba Aldan
B Barguzin White (Agidel) Bityug Biya
IN Volga Vazuza Vuoksa Varzuga Great
Vetluga Vishera Vorya Volkhov Crow
Vyatka
G Gnilusha
D Gum Don Dubna Dnieper
E Yenisei Her
F Zhabnya Zhizdra Zhukovka
W Zeya Zilim zusha
AND Izh Izhma Izhora ik Ilek
Ilovlya Inga Ingoda Inzer and the way
Irkut Irtysh Iset iskona Istra
Ishim Isha And I
TO Kagalnik Kazanka Kazyr Kakva Kama
Kamenka Kamchatka Caen Kantegir Katun
Kelnot Kema Kem Kerzhenets kilmez
kiya Klyazma Kowashi Cola Kolyma
conda Kosva Kuban Kuma
L Laba Lena Lovat Lozva Lopasnya
meadows Luh
M mana Manych Bear Mezen Miass
Mius moksha Mologa Moscow river Msta
H

Lena flows out of Lake Baikal, forms a bend and continues northward to the Laptev Sea, where it forms a large delta. The length of the river route is 4400 km, the basin area is 2490 thousand square meters. km., and water consumption - 16350 m3 / s. The length of the Lena takes 11th place in the world, and the longest river in Russia. The name comes from the language of the Evenks (“elyuene” - big river) or Yakuts (“Ulakhan-Yuryakh” - big water).

The Ob flows through Western Siberia for 3650 km, flowing into the Kara Sea, where it forms a vast, up to 800 km long, bay, called the Ob Bay. It is formed in Altai from the confluence of two rivers: the Biya and the Katun. It ranks first in terms of basin area, that is, the largest river in Russia (2990 thousand sq. Km) and third in terms of water content (behind the Yenisei and Lena). Water consumption - 2300 m3/s. The name of the river comes from the language of the Komi people, in which “ob” means “grandmother”, “aunt”, “respected elderly relative”.

The Volga is one of the largest rivers on Earth and the largest river in Europe. Its length is 3531 km and it crosses 4 republics and 11 regions of Russia before flowing into the Caspian Sea. The river basin occupies 1855 thousand square meters. km (a third of the European part of Russia) with a water flow of 8060 m3/s. There are 9 hydroelectric power plants with reservoirs on the Volga and up to half of all Russian industry and agriculture is concentrated. The Yenisei crosses Russia and Mongolia for 4287 kilometers (of which 3487 km pass through Russia) and flows into the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea. There is a division of the river into the Big and Small Yenisei (Biy-Khem and Kaa-Khem). The river has a basin area of ​​2580 thousand square meters. km (second place after Lena) and water consumption of 19800 m3/s. Sayano-Shushenskaya, Krasnoyarsk and Mainskaya hydroelectric power stations block the waters of the Yenisei in three places. The origin of the name is associated with the distorted Tungus name "enesi" (big water) or the Kyrgyz "enee-Sai" (mother river).

The Amur flows through the territory of Russia, Mongolia and China and flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Amur Estuary). This river Rossi has a length of 2824 km, the basin area is 1855 thousand square meters. km and water consumption equal to 10900 m3/s. The Amur crosses four physical and geographical zones: forest, forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert, and up to thirty different peoples and nationalities live on the banks of the river. The origin of the name causes a lot of controversy, but the most common opinion derives it from "Amar" or "Damar" (Tungus-Manchurian group of languages). In China, the Amur is called the Black Dragon River, and for Russia it is a symbol of Transbaikalia and the Far East.

The Kolyma begins at the confluence of the Kulu and Ayan-Yuryakh (Yakutia) rivers and flows into the Kolyma Bay after 2129 kilometers of its way. The river basin covers an area of ​​643 thousand square meters. km, and the water consumption is 3800 m3/s. In the Magadan region, this is the largest water artery.

The Don flows from the Central Russian Upland in the Tula region for 1870 kilometers and flows into the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of ​​Azov. Being one of the largest rivers in the south of the Russian Plain, the Don has a basin area of ​​422 thousand square meters. km and water consumption 680 m3/s. According to scientists, some sections of the riverbed are about 23 million years old. The ancient Greeks mentioned the Don under the name Tanais, and the modern name belongs to the Iranian peoples of the Northern Black Sea region and simply means "river". Khatanga is born from the confluence of the Kotui and Kheta rivers (Krasnoyarsk Territory) and flows into the Laptev Sea, forming the Khatanga Bay. The length of the river is 1636 km with a basin area of ​​364 thousand square meters. km and water consumption of 3320 m3/s. The first mention of Khatanga was based on the reports of the Tungus and dates back to the beginning of the 17th century.

Indigirka is formed from the rivers Tuora-Yuryakh and Taryn-Yuryakh (Khalkan mountain range) and flows for 1726 kilometers through the lands of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), flowing into the East Siberian Sea. The area of ​​its water basin is 360 thousand square meters. km, and water consumption - 1570 m3 / s. The word "indigir" is of Evenk origin and means "people from the Indi clan". The river is known for its sights - the village of Oymyakon (the north pole of cold) and the city-monument Zashiversk, the population of which completely died out from smallpox in the 19th century.

The Northern Dvina flows through the Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions from the south to the north and, before it flows into the Dvina Bay (White Sea) in the form of a wide delta, it travels 744 km. Two rivers, the South and Sukhona, give rise to it, so that later the river basin occupies an area equal to 357 thousand square meters. km, and the water consumption was 3490 m3/s. This is an important navigable artery that provides the water passage Severodvinsk - Veliky Ustyug, as well as the historical center of the beginning of shipbuilding in Russia.

The Volga originates in the Valdai Upland. This is one of the largest rivers in Europe, receiving up to one and a half hundred tributaries along the way, including the Kama and Oka, the largest of them. There are numerous reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations on the river. The water canal system connects the river with the Baltic, White, Black and Azov seas. Akhtuba is the longest branch of the Volga. The total floodplain of these two rivers covers 7600 sq. km.

Kama is considered the fifth river in Europe in terms of the length of the channel - 2030 km, as well as an important river highway. Being a tributary of the Volga, it also absorbs the waters of smaller rivers on its way, such as Vyatka, Vishera, Belaya, Chusovaya. There are more than two hundred large tributaries near the Kama alone. The Kamskaya, Botkinskaya and Nizhnekamskaya hydroelectric power stations with reservoirs were built on the river.

The Oka is a tributary of the Volga (Nizhny Novgorod region). The riverbed is characterized by differences in slope and width. Among the major tributaries are the Ugra, the Moskva River, the Klyazma and the Moksha. Hydrological studies make it possible to divide the Oka route into three parts: the upper one (Aleksin - Shchurovo), the middle one (Shchurovo - the mouth of the Moksha), and the lower one (the mouth of the Moksha - the Volga).

Don - the river is calm and slow due to a slight slope along the entire route. Among its largest tributaries are the Seversky Donets, Manych and Sal. The river is actively used for generating electricity, navigation and irrigation of adjacent lands. The Dnieper in the European part of Russia ranks third (behind the Volga and Kama) in terms of the size of the basin, with an area of ​​503 thousand square meters. km. On the way to 2285 km, the Dnieper follows from the source to the Black Sea (Dneprovsko-Bug Estuary). This is a flat river with a wide floodplain and numerous branches and significant fluctuations in water level (up to 12 m in the Smolensk region). In ancient times, a section of the legendary route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” (10-12 centuries) passed along the Dnieper.

The Ural is one of the largest rivers in the European part of Russia and is located in the southeast of the Black Sea-Caspian slope. Its length is 2530 km from its source to its confluence with the Caspian Sea, and the basin area covers 220 thousand square meters. km. Due to the strong tortuosity of the channel, it is customary to divide the Urals into three parts: the upper (source - Orsk), the middle (Orsk - Uralsk) and the lower (Uralsk - mouth). A network of reservoirs has been built in the Urals, providing water to the cities and enterprises of the region.

The Yenisei is one of the largest rivers of the Earth in terms of the length of the channel and the area of ​​the water basin. On the territory of Russia, the Yenisei basin unites up to two hundred thousand rivers and up to one and a half thousand lakes. The width of the channel varies from 800 meters at the source (Angara region) to 2-5 kilometers in the Ust-Port and Dudinka regions, and the width of the river valley varies from 40 km (Lower Tunguska region) to 150 km (Dudinka region). Research of the river began in the first half of the 18th century, thanks to the hydrograph Dmitry Ovtsyn, who was part of the Great Northern Expedition.

Lena is the largest river in the north of Russia. It flows along the Central Yakut lowland, forming a wide (up to 25 km) valley and feeding on a large number of lakes, swamps, rivers and streams. The Kharaulsky mountains and the Chekanovsky ridge narrow the valley to two kilometers, and a hundred kilometers from the mouth of the Lena it expands again and forms a delta of 30 thousand square meters. km. The Great Northern Expedition marked the beginning of a systematic study of the river, and its first scientific and geographical description was made by the naturalist Johann Gmelin.

The Ob has the largest water reserve in the north of the country. It combines the flows of the two rivers that form it: this is the Biya, originating in Lake Teletskoye, and the Katun, fed by the glaciers of the Belukha Mountain (Altai). The channel, which is deep at the beginning of the course, is divided into the Greater and Lesser Ob, then merges into one stream (the Salekhard region), and in the delta it again bifurcates into the Khamanel and Nadym Ob. The arrival of the ships of the Second Kamchatka Expedition at the mouth of the great river marked the beginning of the development of the Northern Sea Route.

The Kolyma flows through the northeast of Siberia. After a deep and narrow valley of the upper reaches, on a granite ridge, the river forms the steps of the Great Kolyma Rapids. In the middle of its journey, the Kolyma splits into numerous (up to ten) channels, and three rivers come to the Kolyma Bay: Kamennaya (Kolyma), Pokhodskaya and Chukochya. The river basin is famous for finds of fossil animal bones and gold deposits.

Half of European cities were built on rivers, which is not surprising, because rivers have always been of great transport and economic importance for the development of cities. In the end, people just love to relax on the banks of the rivers, enjoying the scenery and clear water, and many people also fish in it. The size of the rivers on which cities stand can vary greatly, and this does not mean that the largest cities should stand on the largest rivers. About what is the longest river in Europe, and will be discussed below.

1. Volga (3531 km)


It is the great Russian river that is the longest waterway in Europe. It must be admitted that the length of the European record holder is far behind the longest rivers in the world, such as the Amazon, the Nile, the Yangtze, but in a fairly compact Europe, this is already a good result. The Volga begins, like many other Eastern European rivers (Dnepr, Western Dvina, etc.) on the Valdai Upland, then flows along the Central Russian Upland to the southeast, at the foothills of the Urals it turns south and flows into the inner Caspian Sea. The source of the Volga is located at an altitude of 228 meters above sea level, but its delta goes 28 meters below this level. Usually the course of the Volga is divided into three sections: the upper, middle and lower Volga. In its basin, which occupies 8% of the territory of Russia, there are over 150 thousand large and small rivers.


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2. Danube (2860 km)


It is the longest river in Western Europe. It begins in Germany, and then flows through the territories of 10 countries until it flows into the Black Sea. During such a long journey, the landscapes of the banks of the Danube change very much: high mountains, glaciers, mountain plateaus, karst plateaus, plains and fields overgrown with forests. The Danube water has a yellowish-brown tint due to the abundance of suspended particles of silt carried away from the banks, therefore the “blue” Danube, sung by Johann Strauss, is also considered the most muddy European river. For Western Europe, the Danube is not only the longest, but also the most full-flowing river.

3. Ural (2428 km)


The origins of the Ural River are located in Bashkiria, on the top of Mount Kruglyaya Sopka. Almost all its way, the Urals flow through the territory of Russia, capturing a small piece of Kazakhstan, after which, like the Volga, it flows into the Caspian. The upper part of the Ural channel is the conditional border of the division of the Eurasian continent into 2 continents - Europe and Asia. The cities of Orenburg and Magnitogorsk were built on the Ural River. From the point of view of shipping, the Urals are not of great importance - there are few river boats here. But on the other hand, fish are actively caught here, since there are a lot of them in the Urals - catfish, stellate sturgeon, pike perch, sturgeon. The Ural basin covers an area of ​​231,000 sq. km.

4. Dnieper (2201 km)


The Dnieper River, flowing through the territories of Russia, Belarus and then Ukraine, and for the latter it is the longest river. The Dnieper begins not far from the Volga - on the Valdai Hills, but at the end of the path it flows into the Black Sea. On the banks of the Dnieper there are such large cities as Kyiv and Dnepropetrovsk. The Dnieper, like a typical flat river, has a calm, slow flow, and everyone has long forgotten about the Dnieper rapids, which have become the bottom of the reservoirs. More than 70 species of fish live in the Dnieper, including sturgeon, carp, ram and herring. Also, many types of algae grow in the Dnieper water: green ones are the most common, but there are also golden, diatoms, and cryptophytes.

5. Don (1870 km)


The sources of the Don are on the Central Russian Upland, and it flows into the Sea of ​​Azov. There is an erroneous opinion that the source of the Don is in the Shatsky reservoir, but in fact its beginning is the Urvanka stream, which flows in Novomoskovsk, Tula region (tap water flows in the place of the formal source). The Don is a navigable river, and its basin covers 422,000 sq. km. River ships rise from the mouth of the Don to the city of Liski. Many cities were built on this ancient Russian river, including such large ones as Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Azov. Unfortunately, the Don was heavily polluted, which led to a reduction in its fish stocks. But even now, almost 70 species of fish live in it. Most often, roach, bream, rudd, pike and perch are caught here.

6. Pechora (1809 km)


This northern river flows through the territory of the Komi and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and then flows into the Barents Sea. The sources of the Pechora are in the Northern Urals. Naryan-Mar stands on its banks. Pechora is navigable, but only as far as Troitsko-Pechorsk. Whitefish, salmon and vendace are actively caught here. The Pechora basin, which occupies 322,000 sq. km, rich in mineral deposits: coal, gas and oil.


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7. Kama (1805 km)


This is the longest of the rivers in Europe, which is a tributary and the largest river in the Western Urals. The sources of the Kama are located on the Upper Kama Upland, near the village of Karpushata. In the area of ​​the Kuibyshev reservoir, the Kama flows into the Volga, the longest European river. The area of ​​the Kama basin is 507,000 sq. km, where there are almost 75 thousand rivers and streams. True, the vast majority of them are only about a dozen kilometers long. Interestingly, the Kama is much older than the Volga; before the last glaciation, it itself flowed into the Caspian Sea, while the Volga merged with the Don. After the passage of the glacier, which greatly changed the terrain, much has changed - the Kama has become the largest tributary of the Volga.

8. Oka (1498 km)


The largest right tributary of the Volga is the Oka River, which has a basin of 245,000 sq. km. It begins as an ordinary spring near the village of Alexandrovka in the Oryol region. Many ancient Russian cities were built on the Oka: Ryazan, Kaluga, Murom, Nizhny Novgorod, so it, like the Volga, is closely connected with the history of Russia. Divyagorsk was also built there - one of the oldest cities in Russia, which is now almost completely washed away by the fast waters of the river. Due to the gradual shallowing of the Oka, navigation on it is unstable, which has been suspended more than once (2007, 2014, 2015). For the same reason, the number of fish in the Oka is gradually decreasing.

9. Dniester (1352 km)


The Dniester River begins in the Lviv region, in the village of Volchie, and at the end of the way to the south it flows into the Black Sea, crossing the territories of Ukraine and Moldova during this time. In many places, the border between these countries runs along the Dniester. Tiraspol, Rybnitsa, Bendery were built on the Dniester. The area of ​​the Dniester basin is approximately 72,100 sq. km. With the collapse of the USSR, shipping on this river also decreased, and recently it has almost completely disappeared, so at present only sightseeing ships and small boats can occasionally be found there.


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10. Vyatka (1314 km)


The Vyatka River begins, like the Kama, on the Verkhnekamsk Upland, in Udmurtia. But at the end of its journey, it nevertheless flows into this largest tributary of the Volga. The area of ​​the Vyatka basin is 129,000 sq. km. This meandering river has a typically flat character. Man uses it not only for navigation, but also for timber rafting. River routes end in Kirov, having a length of about 700 kilometers from the mouth. There is a lot of fish in Vyatka, local residents catch perch, pike, pike perch, roach and other species in it. On its banks such cities as Kirov, Orlov, Sosnovka were built.

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Russia is the largest state in the world (its area is 17.12 million km 2, which is 12% of the earth's land), about 3 million rivers flow through its territory. Most of them are not large and have a relatively short length, their total length is 6.5 million km.

By the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea, the territory of Russia is divided into European and Asian parts. The rivers of the European part belong to the basins of such seas as the Black and Caspian, Baltic and to the basin of the Arctic Ocean. The rivers of the Asian part - the basins of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.

Major rivers of Russia

The largest rivers of the European part are the Volga, Don, Oka, Kama, Northern Dvina, some originate in Russia, but flow into the seas on the territory of other countries (for example, the source of the Western Dvina River is the Valdai Upland, the Tver Region of the Russian Federation, the mouth is the Gulf of Riga, Latvia). Such large rivers as the Ob, Yenisei, Irtysh, Angara, Lena, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma flow through the Asian part.

The Lena River, 4400 km long, is one of the longest rivers on our planet (7th place in the world), its sources are located near the deep-water freshwater lake Baikal in Central Siberia.

The area of ​​its basin is 2490 thousand km². It has a western direction of flow, reaching the city of Yakutsk, it changes its direction to the north. Forming a huge delta at the mouth (its area is 32 thousand km 2), which is the largest in the Arctic, the Lena flows into the Laptev Sea, the basin of the Arctic Ocean. The river is the main transport artery of Yakutia, its largest tributaries are the Aldan, Vitim, Vilyui, Olekma rivers...

The Ob River passes through the territory of Western Siberia, its length is 3650 km, together with the Irtysh it forms a river system 5410 km long, and this is the sixth largest in the world. The area of ​​the Ob river basin is 2990 thousand km².

It starts in the Altai Mountains, at the headwaters of the confluence of the Biya and Katun rivers, in the southern part of Novosibirsk, the constructed dam forms a reservoir, the so-called "Ob Sea", then the river flows through the Gulf of Ob (area of ​​more than 4 thousand km²) into the Kara Sea, basin of the Arctic Ocean. The water in the river is characterized by a high content of organic matter and a low content of oxygen. It is used for commercial fish production (valuable species - sturgeon, sterlet, nelma, muksun, broad whitefish, whitefish, peled, as well as partial species - pike, ide, burbot, dace, roach, crucian carp, perch), power generation (Novosibirskaya HPP on the Ob, Bukhtarma and Ust-Kamenogorsk on the Irtysh), shipping ...

The length of the Yenisei River is 3487 km, it flows through the territory of Siberia, dividing it into the Western and Eastern parts. The Yenisei is one of the largest rivers in the world, together with its tributaries the Angara, the Selenga and the Ider, it forms a large river system 5238 km long, with a basin area of ​​2580 thousand km².

The river begins in the Khangai Mountains, on the Ider River (Mongolia), flows into the Kara Sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean basin. The river itself is called the Yenisei near the city of Kyzyl (Krasnoyarsk Territory, Republic of Tuva), where the Big and Small Yenisei rivers merge. It has a large number of tributaries (up to 500), about 30 thousand km long, the largest ones: Angara, Abakan, Lower Tunguska. Kureika. Dudinka and others. The river is navigable, it is one of the most important waterways in the Krasnoyarsk Territory of Russia, such large hydroelectric power stations as Sayano-Shushenskaya, Mainskaya, Krasnoyarskaya are located downstream, timber is rafted on rafts ...

The Amur River, 2824 km long, with a basin area of ​​1855 thousand km², flows through Russia (54%), China (44.2%) and Mongolia (1.8%). Its origins are in the mountains of western Manchuria (China), at the confluence of the Shilka and Argun rivers. The current has an easterly orientation and passes through the territory of the Far East, starting at the Russian-Chinese border, its mouth is located in the Tatar Bay (its northern part is called the Amur Estuary) of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, which belongs to the basin of the Arctic Ocean. Large tributaries: Zeya, Bureya, Ussuri, Anyui, Sungari, Amgun.

The river is characterized by sharp fluctuations in the water level, which is caused by summer and autumn monsoon precipitation, with heavy showers, a wide flood of water up to 25 km is possible, which lasts up to two months. The Amur is used for navigation, large hydroelectric power stations (Zeyskaya, Bureyskaya) have been built here, commercial fisheries have been developed (the Amur has the most developed ichthyofauna among all the rivers of Russia, about 140 species of fish live here, 39 species of them are commercial) ...

One of the most famous rivers flowing in the European part of Russia, for which the words from the song are composed "tofolk race, like a full-flowing sea» - Volga. Its length is 3530 km, the basin area is 1360 thousand km² (1/3 of the entire European part of Russia), most of it passes through the territory of Russia (99.8%), the smaller part - Kazakhstan (0.2%).

This is one of the largest rivers in Russia and throughout Europe. Its origins are on the Valdai plateau in the Tver region, it flows into the Caspian Sea, forming a delta, along the way receiving water from more than two hundred tributaries, the most significant of them is the left tributary of the Volga, the Kama River. The area around the riverbed (15 subjects of the Russian Federation are located here) is called the Volga region, four large millionaire cities are located here: Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara and Volgograd, 8 hydroelectric power stations of the Volga-Kama cascade ...

The Ural River, 2428 km long (third place in Europe after the Volga and Danube) and with a basin area of ​​​​2310 thousand km², is unique in that it divides the mainland of Eurasia into two parts of the world, Asia and Europe, therefore one of its banks lies in Europe, the other - in Asia.

The river flows through the territory of Russia and Kazakhstan, begins on the slopes of Uraltau (Bashkortostan), flows from north to south, then changes direction several times to the west, then to the south, then to the east, forms an estuary with branches and flows into the Caspian. For navigation, the Urals are used to a small extent, in the Orenburg region, the Iriklinskoe reservoir and hydroelectric power station were built on the river, commercial fishing is carried out (sturgeon, roach, bream, pike perch, carp, asp, catfish, Caspian salmon, sterlet, nelma, kutum) ...

The Don River is one of the largest rivers in the European part of Russia, its length is 1870 km, the basin area is 422 thousand km², it is the fourth in Europe after the Volga, Dnieper and Danube in terms of water throughput.

This river is one of the most ancient, its age is 23 million years, the sources are in the small town of Novomoskovsk (Tula region), the small river Urvanka begins here, which gradually grows and absorbs the water of other tributaries (there are about 5 thousand of them) spills into a wide channel and flows over large areas of southern Russia, flowing into the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov. The main tributaries of the Don are the Seversky Donets, Khoper, Medveditsa. The river is rapids and shallow, has a typical flat character, such large million-plus cities as Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don are located here. The Don is navigable from the mouth to the city of Voronezh, there are several reservoirs, the Tsimlyansk hydroelectric station ...

The Northern Dvina River, with a length of 744 km and a basin area of ​​357 thousand km², is one of the largest navigable rivers in the European part of Russia.

Its origins are the confluence of the Sukhona and Yug rivers under Veliky Ustyug (Vologda region), it has a northern direction of flow to Arkhangelsk, then north-western and again northern, near Novodvinsk (a city in the Arkhangelsk region) forms a delta consisting of several branches, its area is about 900 km², and flows into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea, the basin of the Arctic Ocean. The main tributaries are Vychegda, Vaga, Pinega, Yumizh. The river is navigable along its entire length; the oldest paddle steamer, built in 1911, “N.V. Gogol "...

The Neva River, flowing through the territory of the Leningrad Region, connecting Lake Ladoga with the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, is one of the most picturesque and full-flowing rivers in Russia. The length is 74 km, the basin area of ​​48 thousand rivers and 26 thousand lakes is 5 thousand km². 26 rivers and rivulets flow into the Neva, the main tributaries are the Mga, Izhora, Okhta, Chernaya Rechka.

The Neva is the only river flowing from the Shlisselburg Bay in Lake Ladoga, its channel flows through the territory of the Neva Lowland, the mouth is located in the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland, which is part of the Baltic Sea. On the banks of the Neva there are such cities as St. Petersburg, Shlisselburg, Kirovsk, Otradnoye, the river is navigable along its entire length ...

The Kuban River in the very south of Russia originates in Karachay-Cherkessia at the foot of Mount Elbrus (Caucasian Mountains) and flows through the territory of the North Caucasus, forming a delta, flows into the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. The length of the river is 870 km, the basin area is 58 thousand km², 14 thousand tributaries, the largest of them are Afips, Laba, Pshish, Mara, Dzheguta, Gorkaya.

The largest reservoir in the Caucasus is located on the river - Krasnodar, the Kuban cascade of hydroelectric power stations, the cities of Karachaevsk, Cherkessk, Armavir, Novokubansk, Krasnodar, Temryuk ...

The largest river in Europe located in Russia - this is a river Volga(3531 km) and this is not surprising, because the territory of the European part of Russia is 40% of the territory of all of Europe.

Many sources claim that the longest river in Western Europe is Danube(2860 km), however, it is worth noting that the Danube flows through the territories of such Eastern European countries as Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.

The Danube is divided into 3 parts:

  • Upper (992 km) - from the source to the village of Gönyü;
  • Medium (860 km) - from Gonyu to the city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin;
  • Nizhny (931 km) - from the city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin to the confluence with the Black Sea.

At the same time, even part of the upper Danube already flows through the territory of Slovakia, which means that in Western Europe the length of the Danube is less than 992 km.

Therefore, if we consider the west and east of the continent separately, then the largest river in Western Europe- this Rhine 1233 km long, which flows through the territories of such Western European countries as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and Liechtenstein.

Well, the Danube can be considered as the longest river in the European Union.

List of the 20 longest rivers in Europe:

  • Volga - 3531 km;
  • Danube - 2860 km;
  • Ural - 2428 km;
  • Dnieper - 2201 km;
  • Don - 1870 km;
  • Pechora - 1809 km;
  • Kama - 1805 km;
  • Oka - 1498 km;
  • Belaya - 1430 km;
  • Dniester - 1352 km;
  • Vyatka - 1314 km;
  • Rhine - 1233 km;
  • Elba - 1165 km;
  • Desna - 1153 km;
  • Seversky Donets - 1053 km;
  • Vistula - 1047 km;
  • Western Dvina - 1020 km;
  • Loire - 1012 km - is the longest river in France;
  • Tagus (Tejo) - 1038 km - the longest river of the Iberian Peninsula;
  • Mezen - 966 km.

16 longest European rivers flowing through Russia

  • Volga - 3531 km;
  • Ural - 2428 km;
  • Dnieper - 2201 km;
  • Don - 1870 km;
  • Pechora - 1809 km;
  • Kama - 1805 km;
  • Oka - 1498 km;
  • Belaya - 1430 km;
  • Vyatka - 1314 km;
  • Desna - 1153 km;
  • Seversky Donets - 1053 km;
  • Western Dvina - 1020 km;
  • Mezen - 966 km;
  • Neman - 937 km;
  • Kuban - 870 km.
  • Northern Dvina - 744 km.

Rhone - the longest (812 km) river in Europe, flowing into the Mediterranean Sea

Volga

The Volga is a river in the European part of Russia that flows into the Caspian Sea. The part of the territory of Russia adjacent to the Volga is called the Volga region. The length of the river is 3530 km, before the construction of reservoirs - 3690 km, the catchment area - 1360 thousand km².

Danube

The Danube is the second longest (2860 km) river in Europe, the longest river in the European Union. The source is located in the mountains of Germany. It flows through the territory or border of ten states: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova; passes through such capitals of Central and South-Eastern Europe as Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. It flows into the Black Sea, forming a delta on the border of Romania and Ukraine.

Ural

Ural - a river in Eastern Europe, flows through the territory of Russia and Kazakhstan, flows into the Caspian Sea. It is the third longest river in Europe, length - 2428 km, basin area - 231,000 km².

Dnieper

The Dnieper is a typical flat river with a slow and calm course, the fourth longest river after the Volga, Danube, Ural and the third river in Europe in terms of basin area, has the longest channel within the borders of Ukraine. The length of the Dnieper in its natural state was 2285 km, after the construction of a cascade of reservoirs, when the fairway was straightened in many places - 2201 km; within Ukraine - 1121 km, within Belarus - 595 km (115 km are located on the border territory of Belarus and Ukraine), within Russia - 485 km. The basin area is 504,000 km², of which within Ukraine - 291,400 km².

Don

Don is a river in the European part of Russia, 1870 km long and with a catchment area of ​​422 thousand km². The source of the Don is located in the northern part of the Central Russian Upland, the mouth is the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov.