The largest river in Europe. The largest rivers of the European part of Russia are the Volga, Kama, Oka, Don Large rivers of Russia

Russia is 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 are no different large sizes and has 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

Major rivers European part - 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 river Western Dvina- Valdai Upland, Tver region of the Russian Federation, mouth - 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 most long rivers on our planet (7th place in the world), its sources are located near the deep-sea fresh lake Baikal in Central Siberia.

The area of ​​its basin is 2490 thousand km². It has western direction current, 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 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 originates in the Altai mountains, at 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 Ob Bay (area of ​​more than 4 thousand km²) into the Kara Sea, basin of the Arctic Ocean. The water in the river is high in organic matter and low oxygen levels. Used for commercial fishing ( valuable breeds- sturgeon, sterlet, nelma, muksun, broad whitefish, whitefish, peled, as well as partial ones - pike, ide, burbot, dace, roach, crucian carp, perch), power generation (Novosibirsk HPP on the Ob, Bukhtarminskaya and Ust-Kamenogorskaya on the Irtysh) , shipping...

The length of the Yenisei River is 3487 km, it flows through the territory of Siberia, dividing it into Western and Eastern part. 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: 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 direction 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 fishing is 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 taking the waters of 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 are located here Russian Federation) 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 flow.

This river is one of the most ancient, its age is 23 million years, the sources are located 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 White Sea, Arctic Ocean basin. 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 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 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 North Caucasus, forming a delta, flows into the Sea of ​​Azov. 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 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 on 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 is of the greatest importance, the waters of which are upstream are widely used for water supply of cities and industrial enterprises of the 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 large area catchment, 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. Also in X-XII 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 period 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:

Top 10 Russian rivers by total area drainage basin thousand km2:

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

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” - a 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. 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 to Tula region over 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 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. Its area 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 passed along the Dnieper legendary path"from the Varangians to the Greeks" (10-12 centuries).

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, deep at the beginning of the course, is divided into the Bolshaya and Malaya Ob, then merges into one stream (Salekhard region), and in the delta it again bifurcates into the Khamanel and Nadym Ob. Arrival at the mouth great river ships of the Second Kamchatka Expedition 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.

Russia occupies a vast geographical area, and it is not surprising that numerous rivers spread over its expanses, which played an important historical role in the settlement and development of new lands. Almost all are located on the rivers Largest cities countries.

In total, there are about 3 million rivers on the territory of the Russian Federation, and all of them are an important component of the life of many people, animals and plants. Rivers provide us with food, water, electricity, places for recreation, and also serve as transportation routes connecting different settlements. It is an irreplaceable source of water for agriculture and industry.

In this article, you can get acquainted with the largest rivers in Russia, get them brief description and see the geographical location on the map of the country.

Rivers of the Russian Federation

Map of the largest rivers of Russia

The territory of the country is divided into European and Asian parts. The dividing line, as a rule, is considered the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea. The rivers of the European part flow into the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The rivers of the Asian part flow into the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

The largest rivers in European Russia are the Volga, Don, Kama, Oka and Northern Dvina, while some rivers originate in Russia but flow into other countries, such as the Dnieper and Western Dvina. The following large rivers flow through the Asian expanses of the country: the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Angara, Lena, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma.

Of the five main drainage basins: the Arctic, Pacific, Baltic, Black Sea and Caspian, the first, located in Siberia and including the northern part of the Russian Plain, is the most extensive. To a greater extent, this basin is filled by the three largest rivers in Russia: the Ob (3650 km), which together with its main tributary, the Irtysh, forms a river system 5410 km long, the Yenisei (3487 km), and the Lena (4400 km). The sum of their catchment areas exceeds 8 million km², and the total water discharge is about 50,000 m³/s.

The major rivers of Siberia provide transport arteries from the interior to the Arctic Sea Route, although they are blocked by ice for a long period each year. The slight slope of the Ob River makes it slowly wind through the vast floodplain. Due to the flow to the north, from the upper reaches to the lower limits of the thaw, extensive floods occur quite often, which leads to the development of huge swamps. Vasyugan swamps on the Ob-Irtysh interfluve cover an area of ​​more than 50,000 km².

The rivers of the rest of Siberia (about 4.7 million km²) flow into the Pacific Ocean. In the north, where the watershed is close to the coast, numerous small, fast-flowing rivulets flow from the mountains, but most of southeastern Siberia is drained by the Amur River. For a larger segment of its length, the Amur forms the border separating Russia and China. The Ussuri, one of the tributaries of the Amur, forms another significant border line between the countries.

Three major drainage basins are located in the European part of Russia south of the Arctic Basin. The Dnieper, only the upper reaches of which are in Russia, as well as the Don and Volga, is the longest European river, originating in the north-west of the Valdai Upland and flowing into the Caspian Sea. Yielding only to the Siberian rivers, the Volga basin covers an area of ​​1,380,000 km². The rivers of the East European Plain have long served as important transport arteries; in fact, the Volga river system provides two-thirds of the movement of the entire Russian inland waterway.

10 largest and longest rivers in Russia

Many mighty rivers flow through the territory of the Russian Federation, but the size of some of them is truly impressive. Below is a list and maps of the largest rivers in the country, both by length and by catchment area.

Lena

The Lena River is one of the longest rivers in the world. It originates near Lake Baikal in southern Russia and flows west, and then, above Yakutsk, smoothly turns north, where it flows into the Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean basin). Near the mouth, the river forms a huge delta with an area of ​​32,000 km, which is the largest in the Arctic and the most extensive protected area. wildlife in Russia.

The Lena Delta, which floods each spring, is an important nesting and migratory area for birds and supports a rich fish population. The river is inhabited by 92 planktonic species, 57 benthos species and 38 fish species. Sturgeon, burbot, chum salmon, whitefish, nelma and albula are the most commercially important species fish.

Swans, dippers, geese, ducks, plovers, waders, snipes, phalaropes, terns, skuas, birds of prey, sparrows and gulls are just some of the migratory birds that nest in the Lena's productive wetlands.

Ob

The Ob is the seventh longest river in the world, stretching for a distance of 3650 kilometers in the West Siberian region of the Russian Federation. This river playing big economic importance for Russia, occurs at the confluence of the Biya and Katun rivers in Altai. It mainly passes through the country, although many of its tributaries originate in China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The Ob is connected to its largest tributary by the Irtysh River, at about 69° east longitude. It flows into the Kara Sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean, forming the Gulf of Ob. The river has a huge drainage area, which is about 2.99 million km².

The habitat surrounding the Ob consists of vast expanses of steppe and taiga flora in the upper and middle reaches of the river. Birches, pines, firs and cedars are some of the famous trees growing in these areas. Thickets of willow, wild rose and bird cherry also grow along the watercourse. The river basin abounds in aquatic flora and fauna, including more than 50 species of fish (sturgeon, carp, perch, nelma and peled, etc.) and about 150 species of birds. Minks, wolves, Siberian moles, otters, beavers, stoats and other native mammal species. In the lower reaches of the Ob, arctic tundra, is characterized by snow-covered landscapes throughout most of the year. Polar bears, arctic foxes, polar owls and arctic hares represent this region.

Volga

The longest river in Europe, the Volga, often considered the national river of Russia, has a large basin covering almost two-thirds of European Russia. The Volga originates in the north-west of the Valdai Upland, and flows south overcoming 3530 km, where it flows into the Caspian Sea. About 200 tributaries join the river along the entire route. Eleven major cities of the country, including Moscow, are based along the Volga basin, whose area is 1.36 million km².

The climate in the river basin varies along its course from north to south. The northern regions are dominated by temperate climate with cold snowy winter and warm, humid summers. The southern regions are characterized by cool winters and hot dry summers. The Volga Delta is one of the richest habitats, home to 430 plant species, 127 fish species, 260 bird species and 850 aquatic species.

Yenisei

The mouth of the Yenisei River is located near the city of Kazyl, where it merges with the Small Yenisei River, which originates in Mongolia and flows north, where it drains a vast territory of Siberia before emptying into the Kara Sea (Arctic Ocean), having traveled 3,487 km. The Angara River, which flows out of Lake Baikal, is one of the main tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yenisei.

About 55 species of local fish live in the waters of the Yenisei, including Siberian sturgeon, flounder, roach, northern pike, Siberian minnow, tench and sterlet. Most The river basin surrounds, mainly consisting of the following rocks coniferous trees: fir, cedar, pine and larch. In some areas of the upper reaches of the Yenisei, there are also steppe pastures. In the north, boreal forests give way to arctic forests. Musk deer, elk, roe deer and Japanese mouse are some of the mammals living in the taiga forests along the river. Also, there are such birds as the Siberian blue robin, Siberian lentil, stone capercaillie and forest snipe. Ducks, geese and swans are found in the lower reaches of summer time of the year.

Lower Tunguska

The Lower Tunguska is a right tributary of the Yenisei, flowing through the Irkutsk region and the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia. Its length is 2989 km, and the basin area is 473 thousand km². The river extends near the watershed between the Yenisei and Lena river basins and flows north and then west across the Central Siberian Plateau.

In the upper reaches, the river forms a wide valley with numerous shallows, but after turning to the west, the valley narrows, and numerous gorges and rapids appear. The vast Tunguska coal basin lies in the river basin.

Amur

The Amur is the tenth longest river in the world, located in East Asia and forms the border between Far Eastern District Russian Federation and Northeast China. The river originates at the confluence of the Shilka and Argun rivers. The Amur flows for 2825 km to the northwestern part Pacific Ocean and empties into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

The river has many vegetation zones in various parts its basin, including taiga forests and swamps, Manchurian mixed forests, Amur meadow steppes, forest-steppe, steppe and tundra. Wetlands along the Amur Basin are among the most valuable ecosystems that are home to a huge variety of flora and fauna. These are important haunts for millions of migratory birds, including white storks and Japanese cranes. The river basin is home to over 5,000 species of vascular plants, 70 species of mammals, and 400 species of birds. Rare and endangered species are found here, such as Amur tiger and far eastern leopard are the most iconic mammal species in the region. A wide variety of fish species inhabit the waters of the Amur: about 100 species in the lower reaches and 60 in the upper. Chum salmon, burbot and whitefish are among the most commercially important northern fish species.

Vilyuy

Vilyuy - a river in the Central and Eastern Siberia, flowing mainly through the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in eastern Russia. This is the largest tributary of the Lena, 2650 km long and with a basin area of ​​​​about 454 thousand km².

Vilyui originates on the Central Siberian Plateau and first flows east, then south and southeast, and again east to the place where it flows into the Lena (about 300 km northwest of the city of Yakutsk). The river and adjacent reservoirs are rich commercial species fish.

Kolyma

With a length of more than 2100 kilometers and a basin area of ​​643 thousand km², Kolyma is the most big river Eastern Siberia, which flows into the Arctic Ocean. The upper reaches of this river system began to develop in Cretaceous period when the main watershed formed between Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Arctic Ocean.

At the beginning of its journey, Kolyma makes its way through narrow gorges with numerous rapids. Gradually, its valley expands, and below the confluence with the Zyryanka River, it flows through the wide marshy Kolyma lowland, and then flows into the East Siberian Sea.

Ural

The Ural is a large river flowing in Russia and Kazakhstan, 2428 km long (1550 km on the territory of the Russian Federation), and with a basin area of ​​​​about 231 thousand km². The river starts at Ural mountains on the slopes of the Round Hill and flows into southbound. In the city of Orsk, it turns sharply to the west through the southern outskirts of the Urals, past Orenburg, and again turns south, heading towards the Caspian Sea. Its flow has a large spring maximum, and freeze-up lasts from late November to April. Navigation on the river is carried out to the city of Oral in Kazakhstan. The dam and hydroelectric power station were built on the Iriklinskoye reservoir, south of the city of Magnitogorsk.

Wetlands in the Ural Delta are especially important for migratory birds as a major haunt along the Asian Flyway. The river is also important for many Caspian Sea fish species that visit its deltas and migrate upstream to spawn. In the lower reaches of the river, there are 47 species from 13 families. The cyprinid family accounts for 40% of the species diversity of fish, sturgeon and herring - 11%, perch - 9% and salmon - 4.4%. The main commercial species are sturgeon, roach, bream, pike perch, carp, asp and catfish. To rare species include Caspian salmon, sterlet, nelma and kutum. About 48 species of animals live in the Ural delta and nearby areas, of which 21 species belong to the order of rodents.

Don

The Don is one of the largest rivers in the Russian Federation and the 5th longest river in Europe. Its basin is located between the Dnieper-Donets depression in the west, the Volga basin in the east, and the basin of the Oka River (a tributary of the Volga) in the north.

The Don originates in the city of Novomoskovsk 60 km southeast of Tula (120 km south of Moscow), and flows for a distance of about 1870 km to Sea of ​​Azov. From its source, the river heads southeast to Voronezh and then southwest to its mouth. The main tributary of the Don is the Seversky Donets.

Table of the largest rivers of the Russian Federation