Russia is the largest country in the world, and also one of the most water-provided. The country has huge reserves of fresh water. In total, about 2.5 million rivers, streams and streams flow through the territory of the Russian Federation. This article will tell you in detail about one of them called Vychegda. The Komi Republic and partly the Arkhangelsk region are the territories where it flows.
Where does the name come from?
In the language of the Komi people, the name of the river sounds like Ezhva, which translates as "meadow water": "ezh" - meadow or grass, and "va" - water.
The Russian name of the Vychegda River came from the combination of the ancient Ugric words "vycha" - greenery, meadow, and "ohgt" - a river. When adapting to the Russian language, the last letter "a" was added to the words.
Thus, Vychegda is a river flowing through the meadows. The Komi also sometimes call it the "yellow river", since the water in it is always muddy.
Geography
Let's give basic geographical information about this reservoir. As mentioned above, Vychegda is a river,carrying its waters along the plains in the taiga zone, mainly through the territory of the Komi Republic (85% of the basin) and partly in the Arkhangelsk region. You need to look for it on the map in the north of the European part of Russia. It is the largest tributary of the Northern Dvina, its right arm.
The length of the channel is 1130 kilometers, the basin area is more than 120 thousand square meters. km. Almost all of its shores are covered with taiga forests, which the Komi Republic is so rich in. There are no rocks, no cliffs, no rapids on the river, it flows freely, wide and unhurriedly across the plain with elevation changes from 120 to 150 meters. If the river valleys are sprawling, then the alluvial ones are compressed, narrow, without terraces.
Swamps are often found along the sandy channel, the slope of the river is very slight. The basin is composed of Permian deposits (clays, marls), carboniferous limestone, over a large area is composed of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, which in some places overlap Quaternary deposits.
The course of the river is very winding, for example, below the city of Syktyvkar, a reservoir, bypassing the Semukovskaya Upland, bends in a steep arc towards the Vym River - its right tributary. Directly between the ends of the arc no more than 3 kilometers, and you will have to swim along the river for 30 kilometers. The sinuous relief of the Vychegda basin was formed as a result of many glaciations of the North Sea, especially its last advance on land.
Source and mouth
Vychegda is a river that is formed at the confluence of the Voi-Vozh and Lun-Vozh streams that flow from the Dzyur-Nyur swamp on the southern outskirts of the Timan Ridge. Source coordinates:62°19'N sh. and 55°32'E. e.
Where does the Vychegda river flow? It carries its waters to the Northern Dvina, into which it flows near the city of Kotlas, which is 600 km away from Arkhangelsk. Mouth coordinates: 61°17'N. sh. and 46°37'E. e.
Hydrology
Vychegda's food is mixed. A large proportion falls on snow (40-45%) and underground (34-40%), partly on rain (15%). Water content ranges from 162 cubic meters per second near the settlement of Ust-Nem, 601 cubic meters per second near Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic, to 1160 cubic meters per second near the mouth.
The river is freed from ice in late April - early May. During the spring flood, the level of Vychegda rises significantly - from 4 to 7 meters. The waters flood the floodplain for many kilometers wide. In 1974, there was a particularly high flood, when the level of the river rose by almost 8 meters. But the big water on Vychegda subsides quickly.
Verkhnyaya Vychegda
The river is conditionally divided into Upper, Middle and Lower.
The Upper Vychegda flows for 346 km from its source to the confluence of the left tributary of the Nem. The basin of this area is a dissected hilly plateau up to 250 meters high. The width of the river valley in this place reaches 200 meters. The channel meanders along the entire path, has many small rapids and shoals, the current is quite fast - 0.7-0.8 meters per second.
Near the sources, the width of the river does not exceed 15 meters, but it gradually expands and reaches 100 meters at Nem. Mediumthe depth of the Upper Vychegda is 3 meters, and the greatest is 10 meters. The supply of this part of the river is underground and snow, the water flow near the village of Pomozdino is 50 cubic meters per second.
Medium Vychegda
Starts from the settlement of Ust-Nema and, running 488 km, ends at the confluence of the left tributary of the Sysola (here is the capital of Komi - Syktyvkar). First, the river runs along the Kerchem valley, lying between the Zhezhimparma and Nemskaya uplands, the middle part of the basin occupies a wide plain between the Northern Uvaly upland and the Timan ridge. Below the channel flows through a wide swampy lowland.
To the right of the river there are many lakes (Sindorskoye, Donty). In the area of the tributaries of the Nem, Vym and Northern Keltma, karst is characteristic. The valley of the Middle Vychegda stretches for 10 kilometers, the floodplain is wide, often two-sided, overgrown with meadows, swampy in places. The channel with a width of 100 to 700 meters has a sandy-clay bottom, along its course there are islands, the banks are strewn with pebbles.
The depths on the Vychegda River in this area are very changeable - from 0.5 meters on the riffles to 6 meters on the reaches. The current speed averages 0.5 meters per second, but in high water it reaches 2 meters per second. Food is dominated by snow (60%), the rest falls on the share of rain and underground. The water flow at Ust-Nema is 160 cubic meters per second, at Syktyvkar - 600 cubic meters per second. During the spring flood, the level of the river in the water rises by 5-6 meters.
Lower Vychegda
It originates from its right tributary - the Vym River, running 296 kilometers to the mouth. In the lower reaches, the river becomes much larger and wider, but otherwise its landscape and hydrological conditions are very similar to those of the Middle Vychegda.
Bilateral floodplain still reaches 6-8 kilometers, but the valley widens to 40 kilometers. The banks in this section of the river are mostly sandy, clay islands with black stripes of peat are rarely exposed. Pebbles with stones are more common. There are especially many of them at the Timasova Gora pier, along the ship's passage on the Upper Soiginsky and Slobodchikovsky riffles, where a real stone ridge has formed.
The river is fed in the lower reaches mainly by snow, in spring there is a strong flood.
Tributaries
1137 tributaries collect water for this reservoir. This is without taking into account more than 23 thousand small streams, the length of which does not exceed 10 kilometers.
The main tributaries of the Vychegda River (the largest): on the right - Vym, Vol, Vishera, Yarenga and Elva, left branches - Viled, Sysola, Lokchim, Northern Keltma, Nem, Southern Mylva.
Part of the tributaries, such as the Vym and the Northern Keltma, are salmon spawning grounds, and therefore are of great fishery importance.
Shipping
Vychegda is a navigable river. Navigation on it opens in the first week of May, and closes on the 20th of October. In the spring, ships reach the Voldino pier (960 km), and in the summer and autumn to the Ust-Koloma pier (693 km).
The largest berths: Yarensk, Mezhozh, Solvychegodsk, Aikino, Ust-Kulom, Syktyvkar.
The difficulty of navigation on Vychegda lies in the fact that its channel is very unstable, and the sands are too mobile. According to these indicators, this reservoir ranks first in Russia. The sandy shores near the populated areas of Oshlapye, Sharovitsy and Vyemkovo are especially strongly washed away by Vychegda.
But the rivers in the northern part of Russia have always been the main means of communication, therefore, despite the difficulties, Vychegda is the main waterway in the region: in summer, the population moves on water, and in winter - on ice.
Also, this river is used for timber rafting from spring to autumn.
Localities
Many cities have been built along the river, and many villages have been scattered. The main settlements: the capital of the Republic of Komi Syktyvkar, the suburban villages of Ezhva, Krasnozatonsky, Sedkyrkesh, Zheshart, the cities of Koryazhma, Solvychegodsk and Kotlas, the villages of Anufrievka and Anikeevka, and other settlements.
Interesting facts
The body of water to which the article is dedicated is very rich in fish. Sterlet, zander, perch, pike, bream, nelma, chub, ide, burbot, roach, gudgeon, ruff and other species of fish are found here. The river feeds the entire population of Komi.
Comfortable passenger train RZD No. 24 between Moscow and Syktyvkar at one time was called "Vychegda".
Now you know where the Vychegda River is located and what are its main characteristics.
