What tectonic structures does the Lena river flow through. The Lena is the largest river system in Siberia. Where is the source of the river? Lena and her features
The territory of Russia has about two and a half million rivers. Most of them are relatively small in size and reach no more than a hundred kilometers in length. The rest are large rivers. And they reach truly enormous sizes. One of the longest rivers in Russia is the Lena.
The river of Russia - Lena: description, geographical location, basin, food and regime
Lena is the largest water artery in Northeast Siberia. Lena river flows into the Laptev Sea. Lena occupies the tenth position in the world in terms of length and the eighth in terms of full flow. It flows in Yakutia and in Irkutsk region. Part of its tributaries are located in Transbaikalia, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk Territories, as well as in Buryatia. It is noteworthy that the basin of the reservoir is completely located on the territory of Russia. Lena freezes from the lower reaches to the upper reaches, that is, in the reverse order to the opening.
The name of the river comes from the Even word Elyu-Ene, which means "Big River". It was discovered in 1619–1623 by the explorer Pyanda and recorded exactly this name. In Russian, the name Lena stuck behind the river.
The geographical position of Lena
The Lena River, which is 4.4 thousand km long, occupies an area of 2490 thousand square kilometers. It is divided into three sections, distinguished by the nature of the flow. The first section is located from the source to the confluence of the Vitim, the second - from the confluence of the Vitim to the mouth of the Aldan, and the third - from the mouth of the Aldan to the confluence of the Lena into the Laptev Sea.
Lena originates from a small lake located 12 km from Baikal at an altitude of 1470 meters. At its source in 1997 a chapel with a commemorative plaque was built. The entire upper part of the current to the mouth of the Vitim is located in the mountainous Cis-Baikal region.
The middle part of the current is located between the confluences of the Vitim and Aldan rivers and has a length of 1415 kilometers. This site is located on the territory of Yakutia. After joining Vitim Lena turns into a huge river. Its depth here reaches 12 meters in some places, and the channel expands significantly. It contains many islands. The river valley is also growing. In these places it reaches the size of 20÷30 kilometers. The valley itself has an asymmetric shape, in other words, its left slope is gentle, and the right one is high and steep. The latter is the edge of the Primorsky Highlands. Both slopes are covered with coniferous forests, which occasionally give way to meadows.
Downstream from Pokrovsk, the Lena valley expands significantly, as the river enters the plain. The speed of its flow here is significantly reduced and does not exceed 1.3 m/s, and for the most part it does not exceed 0.7 m/s.
In the lower reaches, two of its main tributaries flow into the Lena: Vilyui and Aldan. In this section, the river is a huge water stream. Even in those places where the Lena goes in one direction, its width increases to 10 kilometers, while the depth goes beyond 20 meters. In areas with a large number of islands, the width of the river becomes 20–30 kilometers. The Lena delta is very extensive and begins about 150 kilometers from the mouth.
Lena on the map of Russia
Lena river basin
Lena, whose sources are located on the Baikal Range, flows to the Laptev Sea, where it has a delta, the area of which is about 30,000 square kilometers, which is almost twice more area delta of the Volga. The delta includes 800 channels and a huge number of islands. different sizes and forms.
Due to the underdevelopment of the road network along the Lena basin, the river is an actively used shipping route for almost its entire length. However, this leads to a significant deterioration in water quality, as well as the state of fish stocks and ichthyofauna. The river is also polluted by diamond and gold mining enterprises, and at the same time, sewage from settlements and cities.
The Lena River basin is the border of two different landscapes. On the western side lies the Central Siberian Plateau, and on the eastern side - the Verkhoyansk, Chersky ridges, as well as the Suntar-Khayat ridge.
The main tributaries of the Lena are the Olekma, Vitim, Vilyui and Aldan rivers. Vitim has a length of 1820 km and water regime, characteristic of all Far Eastern rivers, that is, a mountain streampassing through a narrow valley, and its channel contains a large number of rocky rapids. Olekma has a length almost equal to the length of Vitim, namely 1810 km. The river valley is compressed by mountains, and at the mouth there are many rapids. The longest tributary of the Lena is the Aldan. Its length is 2240 km. In the upper reaches of the Aldan on both banks there is a plateau, and in the lower reaches there is an intermountain plain.
The river basin has 12 reservoirs with a total volume of 36,200 million cubic meters. m.
Nutrition and regime of the Lena River
The Lena is the only river flowing in the region where unique natural complexes, including ice, which are due to a sharp continental climate and permafrost. feature hydrological regime river is the occurrence of catastrophic spring floods.
The main food of the river and its tributaries are rain and melt water. The supply of rivers with groundwater is difficult due to the absolute spread of permafrost. In addition to spring floods, Lena is characterized by several summer floods, as well as autumn-winter low water.
By the end of April, in the Kirensk region, on the upper reaches of the Lena, a spring flood begins. Gradually, it shifts to the north and reaches the lower reaches by about mid-June. During the spill, the water rises on average 6–8 meters above the low water level. In the lower reaches, the water can rise up to 10 meters.
Lena, the flood of which begins from the source to the mouth, freezes, on the contrary, from the mouth to the source. At the end of October, the huge river is usually frozen over.
Economic use of the Lena River
Lena is one of the few large rivers of the continent, on which not a single hydroelectric dam or other hydraulic structures has been built. Its pool still keeps landscapes untouched or practically undisturbed by man.
The river is the main transport route of Yakutia and connects the districts of the region with the federal transport network. The starting point of navigation is the Kachug pier. The navigation period lasts up to 170 days.
The coastline of the Lena is sparsely populated. The villages are separated by hundreds of kilometers of taiga. Only in the vicinity of Yakutsk are settlements located more densely.
Fishing on the Lena River
Since ancient times and its tributaries are famous for their fish resources. Due to the absence of dams and the presence of rich forage base excellent conditions are created for the life of many species of fish.
The biggest and most valuable fish living in the Lena is the Siberian sturgeon. There were times when it reached a length of two meters and a mass of about two hundred kilograms. However, at present, it is rarely possible to catch an individual weighing more than twenty kilograms here. In the river, the sturgeon feeds mainly on insect larvae, small crustaceans and molluscs.
In addition, in Lena you can easily catch fish such as taimen and lenok. Some individuals can reach 70 centimeters in size and weigh up to eight kilograms. You can also fish very effectively for ordinary whitefish, muksun, whitefish, peled, as well as for Siberian vendace. Grayling can become a frequent prey. In winter, it is better to look for it in the deep, flat areas of the Lena, and in summer the fish goes to mountainous areas. It is best to catch grayling for worms, molluscs, crustaceans and larvae. For lovers of fishing predatory fish there is also something to do on this huge river. A lot of pike, zander and burbot live here. Predators are caught on small fish such as dace, minnow or Siberian loach.
Fish living in the Lena River
Today, 37 species of fish live in the river basin.
Most valuable representative is a river Siberian sturgeon. It lives in the area from Korshukov to Primorye. Sturgeon feeds small fish, insect larvae, crustaceans and molluscs.
Taimen is widespread in the Lena basin. It lives along the entire length of the river. This typical predator forms commercial concentrations only during spawning or during the downstream period from the spawning ground.
Lenok lives in the upper and middle reaches. This fish never appears in seaside areas. Lenok breeds at the very beginning of June.
In the river delta, on the shelf in the desalinated areas of the sea, a population of nelma lives. Fish can rise high up the river, up to Aldan, Vitim and Olekma.
From the river Iul to the delta, tugun is often found. And also the fish densely populates the area from Vitim to 40 islands, as well as from the tributaries of the Aldan, Oleknu, Chuyu, Vilyui.
One of the main commercial fish species inhabiting the Lena is the muksun. In the delta alone, there are four varieties of this fish. In summer, the muksun moves to shallow coastal sea areas, as well as to the foredelta.
Peled are especially numerous in the lower reaches of the river and in the delta. It can also be found upstream to Olekminsk. The fish feeds on plankton and benthos.
From the upper reaches to the fore-delta, whitefish is widespread. And also fish can be found in coastal areas.
Chir lives in the lower reaches. Fish rarely rise to Yakutsk. Chir has a high growth rate and good taste.
From the upper reaches of the Lena to coastal areas, grayling is widespread. This predator is most common in the middle reaches of the river and its right tributaries. Pike, Siberian roach, Siberian dace, perch and ruff are also ubiquitous.
Ide lives in the middle and lower reaches of the river. It reaches its greatest abundance in the Tyung River.
Another fish common throughout the Lena basin is burbot. In summer, he tries to stick to the riverbed, and in winter he goes to spawn in the fairway on rocky ground. Burbot here grows to very large sizes. Often you can meet individuals weighing up to 12 kilograms. Sometimes there are burbots about one and a half meters long and weighing at least 20 kilograms.
Environmental problems of the Lena River
The Lena basin is a complex planetary ecosystem. Environmental risk factors in this area are divided into man-made and natural. The ecology of the river has a significant impact extreme conditions climate, as well as areas with a high concentration heavy metals in soil and vegetation.
Technogenic factors also have a negative impact on the environment. Among them, logging, development of gold deposits, dumping of Wastewater from settlements located on the banks of the river, as well as the movement of river transport.
In addition, accidental oil spills from the ESPO oil pipeline pose a great danger to the Lena basin. The route of this oil pipeline is located right in the basin and crosses more than a hundred watercourses. This can lead to water pollution, a change in the qualitative composition of fish and a reduction in their stocks. This, in turn, will deprive the population of Yakutia of the main food product and drinking water.
Lena begins in the mountains in the south of Siberia and, cutting through it all from south to north, flows into the Laptev Sea. The length of the Lena is 4400 km, and the basin area is 2490 thousand km². Throughout the Lena flows in the area of permafrost.The source of the Lena is located in the northwestern slopes of the Baikal Range. This is a very small, unnamed lake, lying at an altitude of 1680 m above sea level, 10-12 km from Lake Baikal. In the upper reaches of the Lena flows among the mountains along the bottom of a deep and narrow valley, in winter it freezes almost to the bottom, in dry and hot summer it almost dries up; its depth barely reaches, and even then not everywhere, up to half a meter. But soon, having received the first tributaries, the Lena becomes a raftable river.
The Kachuga pier is considered to be the beginning of navigation on the Lena, however, only small vessels pass through it up to Osetrovo, and only below it does the “real life” begin. water road» to the ocean.
The entire upper course of the Lena (up to Vitim), that is, almost a third of its entire length, falls on the mountainous Cis-Baikal region.
The first information about the great east river penetrated to the Russians who lived in Siberia, in early XVII in. To the east, one after another, small detachments of Cossacks were sent, reconnaissance of an unknown region.
In 1628, the Cossack Vasily Bugor with a detachment set out on a long journey. Climbing up the Angara, they reached the Ilim, from there they crossed the watershed on foot and reached the Lena along the Kuta River. A few years later, this path was repeated by the centurion Peter Beketov. His detachment established the first houses at the mouth of Kuta. This was the beginning of the city of Ust-Kut, where a little later the explorer Yerofey Pavlovich Khabarov set up the first saltworks.
The city of Ust-Kut, the terminal station of the railway - Lena, the port of Osetrovo - all these three names, in fact, belong to the same place ... The Baikal-Amur Mainline - BAM begins from here.
A large port with modern mechanisms has been built in Osetrovo, which receives various cargoes from the Lena station for sending them by water to the entire Cis-Baikal region and Yakutia. The oncoming flow of goods goes from the river to railway and follows it to the west.
Lena in the upper reaches is fast, winding, sometimes rapids. Its shores are composed of strong crystalline rocks. More than one millennium passed until frosts and the sun, wind and rains carved bizarre towers, battlements, “fortress walls” into the rocks. Particularly diverse are the figures created by nature in the places of red sandstone outcrops. Huge, majestic cliffs, the so-called Lena Pillars, rise along its banks below Kirensk, reaching a height of 200-300 m.
Compressed on both sides by rocks, Lena foams and rages on the riffle "Devil's Path", with force beats against the rocks "Drunken Bull" ... The most narrow and dangerous places for navigation are called "Cheeks".
After the acceptance of the Kirenga, a large and high-water tributary, from the right, the Lena itself becomes noticeably more high-water, its depths increase to 10 m, and the current slows down somewhat.
Above the red and gray cliffs and where the rocks have receded from the river, forests rise in a high and dense wall: pines with straight golden-red trunks, thick-set cedars, dark spruces and fir and light-coniferous larches.
Larch is the main species of the Lena taiga, a durable, water-resistant tree. Larch was used for decoration in boyar mansions, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow; larch has even reached Venice - many houses standing on the water support piles of larch. Time turned out to have no power over the tree - after several centuries, its trunks not only did not rot, but seemed to be petrified.
The right tributary of the Lena - Vitim, which ends its upper course - begins to the east of Baikal, in the mountains of the Vitim Plateau. This is a large river, almost 2000 km long, collecting water from an area of 225 thousand km². The Vitim valley is narrow, sometimes resembling a gap; rapids and rapids are scattered along the entire course of the river. Big number rapids hinders the development of navigation on Vitim and regular movement of ships occurs only 300 km from the city of Bodaibo - the center of the gold mining region.
In the lower reaches, the Vitim valley separates two highlands - the Patom and the North-Baikal highlands lying to the south of it. In these mountains and along the valleys of the rivers cutting through them, countless treasures are hidden: on the Mama River - largest deposits mica, to the north - along many rivers - gold placers.
The middle course of the Lena includes its segment between the mouths of the Vitim and Aldan rivers, 1415 km long. Almost throughout this section, the Lena flows in a direction close to the latitudinal direction and, somewhat short of Yakutsk, turns sharply to the north.
Near the confluence of the Vitim, the Lena enters the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and flows through it to the very mouth. Having accepted Vitim, Lena turns into a very large deep river. Its depths increase to 10-12 m, the channel expands, and numerous islands appear in it, overgrown with grass or small clumps of forest. The primary slopes recede, the valley expands to 20-30 km, a wide floodplain and several terraces appear. The valley is asymmetrical: the left slope is flatter; the right one, represented by the northern edge of the Patom Highlands, is steeper and higher. On both slopes grow thick coniferous forests, only sometimes replaced by meadows.
Between Vitim and Olekma, the Lena does not receive large tributaries. The tributaries of the Big Patom on the right and the Nuya on the left flow for quite a long time among dense forests in rocky banks parallel to the Lena before joining with it.
Olekma is a big river. Its length exceeds 1130 km. Olekma begins on the northern slopes of Olekminsky Stanovik and flows first to the northeast, and then almost exactly to the north. The Olekma valley is narrow, there are many rapids on the river that prevent through navigation. Especially many rapids are formed in the channel of the Olekma, in the area where it crosses the spurs of the Stanovoy Ridge. Below the rapids, the Olekma flows calmly in a wide valley, the slopes of which are covered with forests, mainly of larch. However, along the Olekma there are also significant pine forests. Timber rafting takes place throughout Olekma.
Below the Olekma, until the end of the section of the middle reaches of the Lena, there is not a single significant tributary, which, apparently, is associated with geological structure this area. For more than 500 km, the Lena flows in a deep and narrow valley cut into limestone. The expansion of the valley occurs only at the confluence of tributaries into the Lena.
Below the village of Pokrovsk, there is a sharp expansion of the Lena valley. Only the floodplain has a width of 5-7, and in some places even 15 km. This is followed by several terraces and the entire valley has a width of 20 or more kilometers. The speed of the current is greatly slowed down, it nowhere exceeds 1.3 m / s, and for the most part drops to 0.5-0.7 m/sec.
The change in the nature of the valley is explained by the fact that, somewhat below Pokrovsk, the Lena enters the Central Yakut Plain. The vast low-lying plain stretches to the north for more than 500 km. Aldan and Vilyui flow along it in their middle and lower reaches. These rivers - the main right and left tributaries of the Lena - are completely different from each other.
However, before we approach the mouths of these rivers, on the way we will have the city of Yakutsk - the capital of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Yakutsk was founded by a detachment of Cossacks under the command of Pyotr Beketov in 1632 on the right bank of the Lena under the name of the Yakutsk or Lena prison, and in the early 40s it was moved to the left bank of the river. Detachments of Russian explorers were sent from Yakutsk to the east to search for and develop the still unknown “landscapes”.
From the middle of the XIX century. Yakutsk became one of the places of exile for Russian revolutionaries. In our time, the city is built up with 3-4-storey stone houses, there are many schools, institutes, a university and the Yakut branch of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The harshness of the climate, and especially the permafrost, which lies at a shallow depth, turn many construction issues into intractable problems. The permafrost does not like to be disturbed. And disturbed, she cruelly takes revenge: she lifts and warps buildings, breaks pipes. When building houses, a number of special measures have to be applied.
Where to get water? Hollowing wells is useless - they end up in a layer of ice and can successfully serve as cellars. Wells had to be drilled to supply the city with water. great depth and arrange water intake from Lena.
The climate of Yakutsk is sharply continental. IN winter time frosts often reach 50 ° C and only almost complete absence winds make life a little easier ... The vapor that flies out when breathing freezes in a white cloud of frost, a white cap of frosty fog lies over the city - the vapors that "exhale" the pipes of houses freeze. But on the other hand, in the summer in Yakutsk you can get a good tan, it sunny days debts, and there are almost no nights... The average July temperature in Yakutsk is +19°С, and the maximum exceeds +35°C.
In Yakutia, especially on the plains, there is very little precipitation. By their number - 200 mm - Central Yakutia is close to the steppes of Kazakhstan and even deserts Central Asia. Very little snow falls in winter; it is dry, shallow, so that even slight winds raise and turn the drifting snow, blow snow into hollows and gorges. Severe frosts and little snow contribute to the development of permafrost, and a small amount of precipitation in the summer leads to such a strange phenomenon at first glance as the formation of saline soils and the appearance of salt efflorescence along the shores of lakes.
The banks of the Lena are very poorly populated. From village to village, the taiga stretches for hundreds of kilometers, and only as we approach Yakutsk, a revival is felt: settlements become more and more frequent, motor boats, small boats go up and down the river, large passenger ships are more common. Most of the villages on the banks of the Lena have been preserved since the time when the path of the “sovereign coachmen” passed along the Lena in winter. The villages have grown significantly, they mostly stand on the wide terraces of the left bank.
Yakutsk is located on the first terrace above the floodplain between two ledges of the left bedrock bank - Cape Tabaga in the south and Kangalassky stone in the north. Between them - 75 km. Lena in this area breaks up into many channels. Between them are islands and islets. Crossing from one coast to another, 7 km away, turns into a long journey. Since ancient times, this section of the channel has been called the Yakut Robbery.
Both above and below Yakutsk on the Lena there are several terraces, along which quite long rows of parallel ridges 2-3 m high, composed of sands, often stretch. There are also elongated, long hollows between the manes. Many terraces are scattered with drying oxbow lakes. The primary slopes of the valley are overgrown with forest, consisting mainly of larch, with individual islands of birch, and on the sands - pines.
The Aldan begins on the northern spurs of the Stanovoy Range and flows first southward among the ranges of the Aldan Highlands in a deeply incised and strongly winding valley. Canyon-shaped sections of the valley, with fast current and rapids alternate with extended ones, where the river flows more slowly and calmly. Then Aldan bends in a wide arc and heads northeast parallel to the Lena valley up to the village of Okhotsky, from where it sharply turns west, towards the main river, and flows into it 160 km below Yakutsk.
After accepting Khandyga on the right, when Aldan enters the Tseptralygayakut plain, its valley expands greatly and numerous lakes and swamps appear on the floodplain (in some areas its width exceeds 15 km). The channel has a width of several kilometers and breaks up into separate branches, separated by islands.
Food for Aldan is supplied mainly by melting snow and rain. The annual rainfall in the Bodaibo area is 425 mm; most of them fall in the summer in the form heavy rains, causing floods with a rise in water of 6-15 m, which significantly exceeds the level of the river in spring.
A dense network of large and small tributaries collects water from a very large area: drainage basin Aldana covers 729 thousand km². The length of Aldan is 2273 km, of which over 1600 km, to the Tommot pier, it is navigable.
The sources of Vilyui are located on the Central Siberian Plateau, not far from the rivers of the Lower Tunguska basin. A swampy flat plain with numerous lakes scattered on it is quickly replaced by an area of development of igneous rocks - traps. The wide valley, along which Vilyui moved slowly, meandering, is replaced by a deep and narrow one, and the current of the river becomes fast, impetuous. Rapids appear in the channel, rocky narrowings - cheeks - compress the river, and it rushes in a narrow corridor.
The upper reaches of the Vilyuy are directed from north to south, then, having taken the Chon flowing towards it, the Vilyuy turns sharply to the east and maintains a direction close to the latitudinal one, to the very mouth, only in one place a large and steep bend bends to the south (Suntarskaya bend). In the middle reaches, the valley is not wide, but the course of the river is calm, the slopes are overgrown with dense forests, on the floodplain and islands there are meadows with lush herbs. The water meadows of the Vilyui and its tributaries are famous for their rich hayfields.
The lower course of the Vilyui is distinguished by a very significant development of swamps and lakes. The banks of the river are low and heavily eroded. There are many islands in the channel, the current is very slow, almost imperceptible. big river carries its waters smoothly and lazily, as if reluctantly, making its way among loose sandy and loamy deposits. The width of the channel in low water reaches about one and a half kilometers at a depth of up to 12 m. Permafrost, which occurs at a shallow depth, prevents the absorption of melt water, and therefore in spring they quickly roll into rivers. The high water in Vilyui takes place in June, causing very wide floods and a high rise in water (by 10-12 m).
The Vilyui basin in its northern part was one of the least populated areas of Yakutia. The lack of roads, numerous swamps and impenetrable taiga made it accessible only to hunters. The southern regions, rich in herbs, were the main livestock areas: from here large herds of cattle were driven to the Lena and Aldan.
new life the discovery of diamonds in Yakutia brought a vast region. Cities and towns have grown in the remote taiga, new roads have been built, and air transport has been greatly developed. Behind the Suntar bend, where the Vilyui valley narrows, a hydroelectric power station was built near the Erbeyek threshold. A 65 m high dam stopped Vilyui and raised its waters high.
The Vilyui is somewhat longer than Aldan (its length is 2650 km), but on the other hand, it is significantly inferior to it in terms of basin area, which is obviously due to the lower amount of precipitation falling in the Vilyui basin (236 mm in the city of Vilyuisk), a more uniform and poorly dissected relief . The area of the Vilyui basin is 454 thousand km².
The revival that came in the Privilyui region caused a significant increase in cargo flows in the Vilyui and its large tributaries. A lot of cargo goes to new settlements. Down the Vilyuy, timber is rafted, mainly larch. Oil and gas fields have recently been discovered in the lower reaches of the Vilyui.
Vilyui is navigable for about five months a year for about 1100 km, to the village of Syuljukyar, but regular navigation is maintained only as far as Suntar (746 km).
In the very lower reaches of the Vilyui and Lena valleys merge, forming a common swampy floodplain of enormous width with lakes scattered on it in disorder.
Below Yakutsk, the Lena is a giant water stream; even where it flows in one channel, its width reaches 10 km, the depth exceeds 16-20 m. Where there are many islands, the Lena spills over 20 and even 30 km. The banks of the river are harsh and deserted. Settlements are very rare .. In spring and autumn, for a short time, the river valley is filled with loud cries of bird flocks: geese and ducks fly over the Lena, heading for northern summer apartments in the tundra in spring, flying south in autumn. -
In the lower reaches of the Lena, its basin is very narrow: from the east, the spurs of the Verkhoyansk Range, the watershed of the Lena and Yana rivers, advance; from the west, insignificant uplands of the northern outskirts of the Central Siberian Plateau separate the basins of the Lena and Olenek. Below the village of Bulun, the river is squeezed by the Kharaulakh ridges coming very close to it from the east and Chekanovsky from the west.
Approximately 150 km from the sea, the vast Lena Delta begins. At its beginning rises the island of Stolbovoy - a remnant washed away by water from one of the islands of the Kharaulakh Range, which dared to come too close to the river. The Lena Delta, one of the largest in the world, exceeds even the huge Nile Delta and covers an area of 30,000 km2. Countless islands, islets, channels and lakes, low, flooded during a flood, constantly changing shape ... Only three main channels reach the sea without interruption: the westernmost - Olenekskaya, the middle - Trofimovskaya and eastern - Bykovskaya. All of them are navigable, but highest value has Bykovskaya 130 km long, along which ships approach Tiksi Bay, on the shore of which there are the sea gates of Yakutia - the port of Tiksi.
Most of the islands are composed of sand deposits, on which peat bogs have formed; even stunted bushes are a rarity here. The bay and the village of Tiksi are bordered by low, gravel-covered mountains with patches of snow, which on the northern side does not melt all year round. Far beyond the Arctic Circle, beyond 74° northern latitude sips your way great Siberian Characteristics the Lena river.
The main food of the Lena, as well as almost all of its tributaries, are melted snow and rain water. The widespread distribution of permafrost reduces the supply of rivers with groundwater to almost nothing. In connection with the general precipitation regime, Lena is characterized by spring floods, several floods, quite high in summer, and low autumn-winter low water. First of all, at the end of April, the spring flood begins in the Kirensk region - on Upper Lena- and, gradually moving to the north, advancing on the still ice-bound river, it reaches the lower reaches in mid-June. Water rises during the spill to 6-8 m above the low-water level. In the lower reaches, the water rise reaches 10 m.
spring ice drift is very powerful and is often accompanied by severe ice jams. And in the wide expanses of the Lena, and in the places of its narrowing, the ice drift is menacing and beautiful. Major tributaries Lenas significantly increase its water content, but in general, the increase in costs occurs from top to bottom rather evenly.
Freezes Lena in the reverse order of opening, from the lower reaches to the upper reaches. The navigation period at Bulun does not exceed four months, at Kirensk it reaches five and a half.
On some tributaries and in some parts of the Lena itself, freezing of water does not begin from the surface, but from the bottom, where intra-water ice forms. The rapid cooling of the bottom layer of water leads to the fact that more and more crystals appear there, and then layers of ice soaked with water. Such lumps of loose ice rise to the surface and float down in the form of sludge. A large amount of sludge and bottom ice can completely fill the channel and form ice jams.
Second extraordinary phenomenon, which occurs in winter on many rivers of Eastern Siberia, is ice, sometimes reaching enormous sizes. Frost can appear with increased formation of bottom ice, when it displaces water that has not yet frozen up, and can occur on those rivers, a separate section of which is frozen to the bottom. The water coming from above freezes on a layer of ice, builds it up gradually, and by the end of winter, the height of the ice can reach several meters. The most famous is the icing on the Moma River, a tributary of the Indigirka. The ice is called Ulakhan-Taryn. Its area is 160 km², and its thickness is four meters. Behind short summer it does not have time to melt and grows in size every year.
Lena - largest river North-Eastern Siberia, flows into the Laptev Sea.
The length is 4400 km, the basin area is 2490 thousand km.
Main tributaries: Vitim, Olekma, Aldan, Vilyui.
It mainly flows through the territory of Yakutia, part of the Lena tributaries belong to the Irkutsk and Chita regions and the Republic of Buryatia.
The source of the Lena is located in the northwestern slopes of the Baikal Range, ten kilometers from Lake Baikal. The entire upper course of the Lena (up to Vitim), that is, almost a third of its length, falls on the mountainous Cis-Baikal region.
The middle course includes its segment between the mouths of the Vitim and Aldan rivers, 1415 km long. Near the confluence of the Vitim, the Lena enters Yakutia and flows through it to the very mouth. Having accepted Vitim, Lena turns into a very large deep river. Depths increase to 10-12 m, the channel expands, and numerous islands appear in it, the valley expands to 20-30 km. The valley is asymmetrical: the left slope is flatter; the right one, represented by the northern edge of the Patom Highlands, is steeper and higher. On both slopes dense coniferous forests grow, only occasionally replaced by meadows.
From the Olekma to the Aldan, the Lena does not have a single significant tributary. For more than 500 km, the Lena flows in a deep and narrow valley cut into limestone. Below the village of Pokrovsk, there is a sharp expansion of the Lena valley. The flow velocity slows down strongly, it nowhere exceeds 1.3 m/s, and for the most part drops to 0.5-0.7 m/s. Only the floodplain has a width of 5-7, and in some places even 15 km, and the entire valley has a width of 20 or more kilometers.
Yakutsk was founded by a detachment of Cossacks under the command of Pyotr Beketov in 1632 on the right bank of the Lena under the name of the Yakutsk or Lena prison, and in the early 40s it was transferred to the left bank of the river. Now it is one of the largest cities in the north-east of Russia.
Below Yakutsk, the Lena receives its two main tributaries - Aldan and Vilyuy. Now it is a giant water stream; even where it flows in one channel, its width reaches 10 km, and its depth exceeds 16-20 m. Where there are many islands, the Lena spills over 20-30 km. The banks of the river are harsh and deserted. Settlements very rare.
In the lower reaches of the Lena, its basin is very narrow: from the east, the spurs of the Verkhoyansk Range, the watershed of the Lena and Yana rivers, advance; from the west, insignificant uplands of the Central Siberian Plateau separate the basins of the Lena and Olenek. Below the village of Bulun, the river is squeezed by the Kharaulakh ridges coming very close to it from the east and Chekanovsky from the west.
Approximately 150 km from the sea, the vast Lena Delta begins. At its beginning rises Stolbovoy Island - a remnant washed away by water from one of the forts of the Kharaulakh Range. The Lena Delta - one of the largest in the world - exceeds even the huge Nile Delta in size and covers an area of 30,000 km2. Countless islands, islets, channels and lakes, low, flooded during a flood, constantly changing shape ... Only three main channels reach the sea without interruption: the westernmost - Olenekskaya, the middle one - Trofimovskaya and the eastern one - Bykovskaya. All of them are navigable, but the most important is Bykovskaya, 130 km long, along which ships approach Tiksi Bay, on the shore of which there are the sea gates of Yakutia - the port of Tiksi.
The banks of the Lena are very poorly populated. From village to village, the taiga stretches for hundreds of kilometers, and only as we approach Yakutsk, a revival is felt: settlements become more frequent, motor boats and barges go up and down the river, large passenger ships are more common. The river is the main transport artery of Yakutia, the Kachuga pier is considered the beginning of navigation on the Lena, however, only small ships pass through it up to Osetrov, and only below it does the “real water road” to the ocean begin.
The main food of the Lena, as well as almost all of its tributaries, is snowmelt and rainwater. The ubiquity of permafrost interferes with the supply of rivers with groundwater. In connection with the general precipitation regime, the Lena is characterized by spring floods, several rather high floods in summer, and low autumn-winter low water. The spring ice drift is characterized by great power and is often accompanied by large ice jams. The Lena freezes in the reverse order to the opening - from the lower reaches to the upper reaches.
Most researchers believe that the name of the river is the Tungus-Manchurian (Eveno-Evenki) “Elyu-Ene”, which means “Big River”, changed by the Russians.
Lena- the largest river in Siberia, and throughout Russia, flows into the Laptev Sea. The tenth longest river in the world, flows through the territory of Yakutia, the Irkutsk region, part of its tributaries belong to the Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Trans-Baikal Territory and to the Republic of Buryatia. The length of the river, excluding tributaries, is 4,400 km, the basin area is 2,490 thousand km2. The main food is melted snow and rain water. You can read more about the Lena basin.
River flow
The source of the Lena is a small swamp located 12 kilometers from the Baikal Ridge. The upper course of the river falls on the mountainous Cis-Baikal region, here it is relatively narrow and not wide. The middle course is a segment between the Vitim and Aldan rivers. After the confluence of the Vitim, Lena becomes huge deep river with a depth of up to 20 meters, the valley widens up to 20 km. Dense coniferous forests grow on both sides. From Olekma to Aldan, not a single large tributary flows into the Lena, all these 500 km it flows in a narrow and deep valley. After the city of Pokrovsk, a sharp expansion of the valley occurs. After Yakutsk, two large tributaries flow into it - Aldan and Vilyui. Now it is a giant water stream up to 10 km wide, and in some places it spills up to 20-30 and up to 20 meters deep. In the lower reaches, the river is very narrow on all sides, mountains and ridges prevent it from overflowing. At the mouth, about 150 km from the sea, the vast Lena Delta begins.
Population
The banks of the Lena River are deserted, there are practically no settlements. A large number of settlements are observed only in the Yakutsk region. There are many abandoned villages and shift camps.
Most big cities this:
- Ust-Kut
- Kirensk
- Lensk
- Olekminsk
- Pokrovsk
- Yakutsk
- Zhigansk
Shipping
Lena is one of the main transport arteries of Yakutia. In conditions of bad roads, waterways become very relevant. The main part of the "northern delivery" is produced along this river. Shipping starts from the Kachug pier. Unfortunately, below the settlement of Ust-Kut and before the confluence of the Vitim tributary with the Lena River, there are a lot of shallow and difficult areas for navigation. Every year, work is carried out to deepen the bed of the Lena.
The navigation period lasts from 125 to 170 days. The largest ports on the Lena:
- Osetrovo
- Kirensk
- Lensk
- Yakutsk
Channel change
Scientists from the National French Center scientific research, as well as scientists from the Institute of Permafrost Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Alaska described and found that warming negatively affects the Lena River.
In this area, in winter, the temperature of the surrounding area drops to -70 degrees, the thickness of the permafrost reaches 1.5 km. Scientists have found that over the past forty years average temperature the air rose by four degrees, and the temperature of the soil by one degree Celsius. Water temperatures in spring and summer rose by two degrees.
Every year the flood becomes more and more powerful, plus, during the ice drift, the shores are subjected to very strong thermal and mechanical stress and, as a result, are destroyed. In addition, due to accelerating erosion processes, the islands, consisting mainly of silt and sand, are gradually moving towards the lower reaches of the river. In 2009, the islands' average migration rate reached 27 meters per year.
The main tributaries of the Lena
- Aldan
- Olekma
- Vilyuy
- Kirenga
- Young
- Tuolba
- Buotama
- Blue
The largest of them is the Aldan and Vitim rivers.
Briefly
- Researchers suggest that the name of the river comes from the Tungus-Manchurian "Yelyu-Ene", which translates as "big river"
- The river was discovered by the Russians in 1619-1623, by the explorer Pyanda
- Lena is the main transport artery of Yakutia
- Due to global warming, Lena is changing course.
- Lena is the 10th longest among all the rivers of the world, with a length of 4400 km.
- On a part of the right bank of the river there is a national nature Park Lena Pillars
The main characteristics of the Lena River:
- The length of the River is 4400 km.
- Basin area - 2,490 thousand km2
- The maximum width of the floodplain is 30 km.
- The maximum depth is 21 m.
The source of Lena is a small lake 12 kilometers from Baikal, located at an altitude of 1470 meters. On August 19, 1997, a chapel with a commemorative plaque was installed at the source. The entire upper course of the Lena to the confluence of the Vitim, that is, almost a third of its length, falls on the mountainous Cis-Baikal region. Water consumption in the Kirensk region is 1100 m 3 / sec. The middle course includes its segment between the mouths of the Vitim and Aldan rivers, 1415 km long. Near the confluence of the Vitim, the Lena enters Yakutia and flows through it to the very mouth. Having accepted Vitim, Lena turns into a very large deep river. Depths increase to 10-12 m, the channel expands, and numerous islands appear in it, the valley expands to 20-30 km. The valley is asymmetrical: the left slope is flatter; the right one, represented by the northern edge of the Patom Highlands, is steeper and higher. On both slopes dense coniferous forests grow, only occasionally replaced by meadows. From the Olekma to the Aldan, the Lena does not have a single significant tributary. For more than 500 km, the Lena flows in a deep and narrow valley cut into limestone. Below the city of Pokrovsk, there is a sharp expansion of the Lena valley. The flow velocity slows down strongly, it nowhere exceeds 1.3 m/s, and for the most part drops to 0.5-0.7 m/s. Only the floodplain has a width of five - seven, and in some places even 15 km, and the entire valley has a width of 20 or more kilometers. Below Yakutsk, the Lena receives its two main tributaries - Aldan and Vilyuy. Now it is a giant water stream; even where it flows in one channel, its width reaches 10 km, and its depth exceeds 16-20 m. Where there are many islands, the Lena spills over 20-30 km. The banks of the river are harsh and deserted. Settlements are very rare. In the lower reaches of the Lena, its basin is very narrow: from the east, the spurs of the Verkhoyansk Range, the watershed of the Lena and Yana rivers, advance; from the west, insignificant uplands of the Central Siberian Plateau separate the basins of the Lena and the Olenyok River. Below the village of Bulun, the river is squeezed by the Kharaulakh ridges coming very close to it from the east and Chekanovsky from the west. Approximately 150 km from the sea, the vast Lena Delta begins.
First of all, at the end of April, the spring flood begins in the Kirensk region - on the upper Lena - and, gradually moving north, advancing on the still ice-bound river, reaches the lower reaches in mid-June. Water rises during the spill to 6-8 m above the low-water level. In the lower reaches, the water rise reaches 10 m. In the wide expanses of the Lena and in places where it narrows, the ice drift is menacing and beautiful. Large tributaries of the Lena noticeably increase its water content, but, in general, the increase in discharges occurs from top to bottom rather evenly. Economic use Lena to this day remains the main transport artery of Yakutia, connecting its regions with the federal transport infrastructure. The main part of the "northern delivery" is produced along the Lena. The Kachug pier is considered to be the beginning of navigation, however, only small vessels pass through it upstream from the port of Osetrov. Below the city of Ust-Kut, up to the confluence of the Vitim tributary, on the Lena there are still many areas difficult for navigation and relatively shallow places, forcing annual work to deepen the bottom. The navigation period lasts from 125 to 170 days.
