Rivers of Donbass. Water resources of Donbass

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

In the eastern part of Ukraine there is a large industrial region called Donbass. It is a major center of non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy. Here are the largest deposits of coal. The Donbass includes several regions: part of the Rostov region (Russia), the eastern regions of the Dnepropetrovsk region, the south of the Luhansk region and the center of the Donetsk region (Ukraine).

This region has a dense water system. The rivers of Donbass play an important role. Thanks to them, cities and villages are supplied with water, heavy industry works. More than half of them are over 25 km long. There are 110 rivers in this region. These arteries are Kalmius (209 km), Mius (258 km), Volchya (323 km), Samara (320 km), Aidar (264 km) and others.

General characteristics of rivers

The rivers of Donbass are of a flat type. In the summer season, many of them dry up. The reason for this was the construction of reservoirs. Almost all of them originate from small streams that formed in places where groundwater came to the surface. There are three areas whereriver sources are located:

Central Russian Upland (southern slopes).
Donetsk Ridge.
Priazovsky Upland.

Such places are located at an altitude of about 300 m above sea level. The formation of the direction of the current was influenced by the features of the relief and orography. The rivers of Donbass are fed mainly by precipitation and underground sources. Given the climatic features of this region, all arteries are covered with ice in winter. In the spring season there is a flood. And in summer the water level drops sharply. Rivers open in early spring, by the end of March they are completely free of ice. The minimum duration of the freeze-up period is 6 days, the maximum is 153.

The rivers of Donbass can hardly be called full-flowing. Their annual runoff is unevenly distributed. The largest amount occurs in spring (about 56-60%), in autumn and summer - 30%, in winter - no more than 10-14%. The riverbeds are meandering, the valleys are asymmetric. In the upper reaches of the floodplain they reach 50 m, and in the lower reaches their width can reach up to 2 km.

Azov Sea Basin

All rivers in this region belong to three basins. Those that have a southern direction carry their waters to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. Here are some of them:

A large artery originating in the Rostov region is the Mius. The source is located on the slopes of the Donetsk Ridge. Mouth - Miussky Estuary (Sea of Azov).
The Kalchik river is small. It is a tributary of the Kalmius. It originates near the village of Kalchinovka (border of Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions). The mouth is located in the city of Mariupol. Channel lengthalmost 90 km.
Dry Volnovakha flows through two districts of the Donetsk region. Its length is 48 km. The mouth is located south of the village of Olginki. It flows into the Wet Volnovakha.
Kalmius is a large river of Donbass. The source is located near the town of Yasinovataya, the mouth is in the town of Mariupol.

Don's pool

A lot of arteries flow through the territory of this region, which have a western direction. There are about 30 of them in total. They flow into the river. Don. Its basin includes the following rivers of Donbass:

Bakhmut is the right tributary of the main river of the Donetsk region, the Seversky Donets. The location of the source is the city of Gorlovka, the mouth - with. Drone.
Nitrius has a length of 31 km. It is a left tributary of the Seversky Donets. The mouth is located in the village of Prishib. It is considered the cleanest river in the Donetsk region.
Kazennyy Torets is a large river of Donbass. The length is almost 130 km. It starts on the territory of the Donetsk Ridge, the mouth is located in the village of Raygorodok.
Lugan flows through the territory of two regions - Lugansk and Donetsk. The source is located in Gorlovka, the mouth is Stanitsa Luganskaya. Length about 200 km.

Dnieper Basin

Rivers flowing to the east belong to the Dnieper basin. Here are some of them.

Byk is a tributary of the river. Samara. The length of the channel is more than 108 km. The mouth is located near the village. Petropavlovka. Refers to the water system of the Black Sea.
S alt - a river flowing in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions. The length is small, only 28.6 km. Begins in s. Volodino,the mouth is located in Hunting.
Wet Yaly is a river, the channel of which is almost 150 km long. Falls into the river Wolf. The width between the banks in some places reaches 50 meters.
Volchya is a large river originating in the village. Evgenovka (Donetsk ridge). Falls into the river Samara near the village Studs.

Seversky Donets

This river is considered the most important water resource in the Donbass. It is widely used in industry, so its environmental condition has deteriorated greatly. The most polluted sites are located near cities. The name of the artery is directly related to the river. Don. In terms of length, it occupies the 7th place among Ukrainian rivers. It is one of the largest tributaries of the Don. The channel, more than 1000 km long, passes through the territory of the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The source is located in the Belgorod region, the mouth is the village of Kochetovskaya (Rostov-on-Don).

Seversky Donets is a river with a calm character. In places there is no flow at all. It feeds mainly on snowmelt. There are seasonal fluctuations in water levels. The average width of the channel is 40-60 m, only in some places it reaches 100 m. Many reservoirs have been built on the river. The bottom is predominantly sandy, uneven, there are rifts and reaches. Throughout its length, the Donets receives more than a thousand tributaries, both small and medium.

Kalmius

The largest industrial region of Donbass is the Donetsk region. The Kalmius River originates on the southern slope of the ridge in the city ofYasinovataya. It has a length of more than 200 km. The riverbed does not go beyond the Donetsk region. Kalmius is not aquatic. Its average depth does not exceed 2 meters. At the very beginning, the flow moves in a southeasterly direction. On the site, which administratively belongs to the Starobeshevsky district, it turns to the south-west.

In total Kalmius receives 13 right tributaries and 5 left. The largest of them:

Kalchik.
Thorn.
Wet Volnovakha.

Their length is more than 60 km.

Four large cities stand on the river: Donetsk (the administrative center of the region), Yasinovataya (a major railway junction), Mariupol (an important seaport and mud resort), Komsomolskoye. In addition to them, there are 13 more small villages and urban-type settlements. Four reservoirs have been built on Kalmius. It is mainly used for land irrigation and water supply of settlements.

Recently, the ecological state of the river is very bad. Within Donetsk, it has long failed to meet sanitary standards. Swimming in Kalmius is prohibited. However, many wonderful parks have been built on its banks, where you can walk both in summer and in winter.

Bakhmut

One of the right tributaries of the Seversky Donets is the river Bakhmut. The length of its channel is 88 km. It is quite curvy. The average width is about 10 m. The river is shallow, the depth is 3 m. It freezes in winter. The ice stays until mid-March. The maximum level in the river is fixed only during floods. The bottom is muddy, so the transparency of the watersmall - about 50 cm.

Formerly p. Bakhmut was navigable. However, now it has become very shallow. The irrational use of its resources in industrial and agricultural needs led to such consequences.

Mius

The Mius River flows through the territory of three regions: Rostov, Lugansk and Donetsk. To be more precise, it serves as the boundary between the last two. Its length is 258 km. It flows into the Sea of Azov, forming an estuary, which is located in the Taganrog Bay. It receives three right and the same number of left tributaries. The bed of the Mius is strongly winding. The average width is about 25 m, but in the lower reaches it increases to 45 m. Shrub and meadow vegetation prevails on the banks. There are backwaters on the river, sometimes their width reaches 800 m. There are also rifts up to 50 cm deep and reaches up to 6 m.

Wolf

The Volchya River is a major tributary of Samara. The distance from the source to the mouth is 323 km. The city of Pavlograd and two small settlements were built on the river. At the very beginning, its coastline was heavily overgrown with reeds. There are a lot of splashes. The bottom is mostly muddy, pits and rifts predominate. Closer to the city on the banks there are comfortable sandy beaches. However, the section passing through the Dibrovsky forest is considered the most beautiful place on Volchya.