The amazing Khatanga River is formed by the confluence of two polar rivers Kheta and Kotui, located in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. This is one of the most unique corners of Siberian nature.
Khatanga River: photo, geographic location, terrain features
The area of the Khatanga basin is 364,000 sq. km., and the total length is 227 km. It flows in a wide valley of the North Siberian lowland. The waters of the river, overflowing into numerous channels, flow into the Laptev Sea through the Khatanga Bay. The lower part of the valley is about 5 kilometers wide.
A feature of the riverbed is a large number of gravel islands. Many tundra lakes (112 thousand in total with a total area of 11.6 thousand square kilometers) are concentrated throughout the Khatanga River basin. Among them, the largest are Essey, Labaz and Dyupkun.
The river freezes already in September-October, opens in June. In winter, on flat areas, the thickness of the ice reaches two meters, and on the rapids, even in the most severe frosts, the surface does not freeze.
The Khatanga Valley, located on a plateau, often has canyon-like steep banks. The Khatanga river basin is a sparsely populated area of the region.
The Khatanga River is navigable. There is a pier with the same name. Not far from the confluence of Kotui andKhety (lower course of the river), the village of Khatanga (the regional center of the Taimyr National District) is located. Here, at the berths of the river and sea ports, in the summer, ships are loading and unloading.
On the river, local residents carry out commercial fishing: char, white salmon, taimen, whitefish, vendace and omul.
River tributaries, food
Khatanga is expanding in meanders across the tundra plain. The main largest tributaries: the left - Malaya Balakhnya and Novaya, the right - Polygay, Prodigal and Lower. Khatanga is a river, the main food of which is snow (flood from late May to mid-August). Maximum water flow - 18300 m3/sec., average - 3320 m3/sec.
The history of the name of the river
According to the Dolgan etymology, "khatanga" sounds like "birch river". And this is true, because forests of dwarf birch have advanced along the river valley far to the north.
Translated from the Evenk words "Khatanga" is translated as "a place where there is a lot of water (a lot of water)". And this is also true. Both translations reflect the unique natural features of this Siberian river.
Localities
The Khatanga River, as noted above, is located on a sparsely populated territory. In addition to the village of the same name (from the mouth of the river 210 km), which has a population of 2645 people, there are several more in the surrounding territories. On the bank of the Kotui River (73 km from the mouth) there is a mining settlement Kayak. On the banks of the Kheta River there are settlements: Crosses (at the mouth), 2nd Crosses (9 km from the mouth) andNew (42 km from the mouth).
Ecology of the area
The Khatanga River and nearby areas are an uninhabitable area. Conditions in the river basin are rather unfavorable. The main reason for the corresponding ecological situation is the presence in these places of the main pollutant of the natural environment - the Khatanga commercial seaport.
In connection with this, the administration of the biosphere state Taimyr Reserve was located in the village of Khatanga. It was created in 1979 with the aim of protecting the tundra, the Arctic deserts, and the territory of the Laptev Sea. All this covers an area of 2,719,688 hectares. There is also a testing ground for experiments on the acclimatization of the musk ox.
A bit of history
Since 1936, the river has become navigable. The first steamboat this year brought manufactured goods for local residents. In 1939, the Khatanga Shipping Company was organized here. In 1952, for the first time in the summer, sea heavy ships came to the village, in connection with which they began to build berths and warehouses, which gave rise to the existence of a commercial sea port in the village of Khatanga.
