Rivers of the Tyumen region: a brief overview

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

The rivers of the Tyumen region are the most full-flowing and numerous in the zone of taiga forests and in the north. The forest-steppe regions of the south of the region suffer from a shortage of water resources. The lakes and rivers of this region are famous for their amazing beauty. Many rivers are suitable for water tourism. This region is also loved by fishermen for rich and varied catches.

Water resources of the region

The law "On the administrative-territorial structure of the Tyumen region" provides for the inclusion of Yugra, Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs into the region. All water resources of this territory belong mainly to the Kara Sea basin. In certain areas of the Yamalo-Nenets (in the west) district and Khanty-Mansiysk (in the north-west) - to the Barents Sea basin.

If we consider the "clean" Tyumen region, then the total length of all its 4791 rivers is 32,700 kilometers. Most of them are small rivers and streams. Taking into account the autonomous regions, the figures increase many times:

• rivers almost 75thousand;
• length - more than 420,000 km.

Total number of lakes (with districts) 1.7 million. The area of artificial reservoirs, wetlands, swamps, rivers and lakes in the Tyumen region is not constant. It depends on natural factors: water regime, waterlogging, weather conditions. To a lesser extent, from the drainage of territories.

Rivers

Brief description of the most significant rivers of the Tyumen region:

• Big Nyasma. Stormy, with rifts and backwaters, length - 92 km, famous for a large number of pikes, has several tributaries: Vogulka, Listvyanka, Malaya Nyasma.
• Ivdel. Pretty fast mountain river with rapids and rifts 116 km long.
• Irtysh. The main left tributary of the Ob (the world's longest tributary river, crosses the three countries of Kazakhstan, China and Russia).
• Iset. A tributary (left) of the Tobol, flows through two more regions of Kurgan and Sverdlovsk, total length 606 km, tributaries Techa, Sinara, Miass;
• Ishim. The longest left tributary of the Irtysh flows through the two countries of Kazakhstan and Russia, the length is 2450 km, 270 km are navigable.
• Tavda. A tributary (left) of the Tobol, with a very winding channel, 719 km long.
• Tura. A tributary (left) of the Tobol. It also flows through the Sverdlovsk region, it is navigable. The total length is 1030 km, tributaries: Aktai, Nitsa, Salda, Tagil, Pyshma. Three reservoirs have been built on Tura.
• Pyshma. Tributary (right) Tours. Length 603 km, suitable for timber rafting. Three reservoirs are used for industrial water supply.

Among other rivers of the Tyumen region, the mostthe left tributary of the Irtysh, the Vagai, is known, the Cossack ataman Yermak died in its waters.

Lakes

Only in the Tyumen region itself there are more than 36,000 lakes, with a total area of approximately 3.1 thousand km². The number of lakes per unit area decreases from north to south, if we take into account the entire territory of the region together with the districts.

Most of the lakes are located in lowlands and swamps. There are floodplain, glacial and western reservoirs, the vast majority of them are freshwater. In the south of the region there are lakes with increased mineralization. These include S alt Lake, located in the Berdyugsky district, Akush of the Kazansky district (on the border with Kazakhstan).

The largest water bodies

The largest rivers of the Tyumen region are the Ob and Irtysh, Bolshoy Uvat stands out among the lakes:

• Ob. The largest river in Western Siberia. The length is 3650 km, the basin area is 2,990,000 km². It carries its waters to the Kara Sea, at the confluence it forms a huge (800 km long) bay called the Gulf of Ob. Navigable throughout. The main tributaries of the Ket, Irtysh, Tom, Charysh, Chulym. More than 50 species of fish live in the Ob, half of which are commercial, including muksun, nelma, sturgeon, peled, pike perch, whitefish, sterlet, whitefish.
• Irtysh. Its length on the territory of Kazakhstan is 1700 km, China is 525 km, the longest section in Russia is 2010 km. The basin area is 1643 thousand km² The width of the river in the northern regions reaches one kilometer, the depth at the riffles is up to 3 m, at the reaches up to 15 m. The waters of the riverused to fill the Irtysh-Karaganda canal. The channel is very winding, 3784 km are suitable for navigation, navigation is possible from April to early November. One of the few passenger river routes in the country is laid here. The Irtysh cascade of hydroelectric power stations (Shulbinskaya, Ust-Kamenogorskaya, Bukhtarminskaya) was built on the river. Representatives of sturgeon, pike, cod, carp, firebrand, salmon, perch families are found in the Irtysh.



• Big Uvat. Width 9 km, length 25 km, depth up to 5 meters, area 179 km², muddy bottom. It is located on the territory of the natural monument of regional importance "Lake Big Uvat". One of the rivers of the Tyumen region flows from it - Vertinis (a tributary of the Ishim). Rare species of birds nest on the shores of the lake: curlew, red-throated goose, white-tailed eagle, eagle owl.