Where is Kolyma (the river)?

So it happened that the name of Kolyma is used to designate the whole region uniting Magadan Oblast and Yakutia, by the will of destinies become the center of the country's punitive system of councils. It was here that the most terrible camps were located, and the name of this great beautiful river of northeastern Russia is still associated with cruel repression. But we will talk about the amazing hydronym - the powerful, full-flowing river Kolyma, bringing life to all - and to the tribes that have long settled on its shores, and to us today, who do not think of existence without these lands discovered by Russian travelers.

A bit of history

For the first time the Kolyma-river (Halyma in Yakutia) is mentioned in the report of the pomor-explorer Mikhail Stadukhin, who led the expedition, which resulted in the discovery of new lands in the Indigirka and Alazey basins (1639), and the foundation in 1644 in the lower reaches of the Kolyma winter hut. He also gave a description of the inhospitable natives - the militant Chukchi, who protected their own way of life and did not hurry to give hospitality to anyone. The Yukagirs, the Tungus, the Chukchi, the Evenks who settled on these shores and settled in harsh places, engaged in fishing, hunting, and later driving dogs.

The fortified Nizhnekolymsk winter haven became the starting point for subsequent expeditions and hikes in the difficult search for unexplored territories. From 1647-1648, land and water expeditions are undertaken, supplementing the picture of the terrain with appropriate descriptions.

The famous polar explorer Dmitry Laptev, who arrived as part of the Great Northern Expedition, in 1741 described the upper reaches of the river and erected a special lighthouse at the mouth of the Kolyma River, or rather its right channel of the Kolyma River, an identification beacon that later became a support for many research projects. From here went the famous marches of Wrangel, Billings and others, no less famous seafarers. This is the history of the discovery of these places, inhospitable, harsh, but attracting and conquering the unusual northern beauty. We will figure out where the Kolyma River is born, where it carries its waters, what path it does and what it meets on it.

origin of name

Scientists have not yet come to a common opinion about the origin of the name (Kolyma). Evens - the indigenous inhabitants of these places, called it Kulu, which in translation from Turkic means the river. Today this name was preserved only behind the right source of Kolyma. Mikhailo Stadukhin calls her Kovyma, and later the usual modern person - Kolyma. To prove the etymological connections between Kulu and Kolyma nobody succeeded, and the controversial hypotheses about the Yukagir origin of the name also do not have any evidence base. Probably, for ever the mysterious name - Kolyma-river will remain a mystery. Where is its beginning, we learn further.

Origins

The Kolyma is formed by two sources merging on the Okhotsk-Kolyma Highlands: the Ayan-Yuryakh River, which descends between the rocks of the Khalkan Range and the Kulu River, which emerged from the confluence of two rivers near the granite spurs of Suntar-Hayat. It is from here that the river begins to move north to the Arctic Ocean.

Where the Kolyma River flows

The basin of the river, with its numerous tributaries, stretches across the vast territory of the Magadan Region, the Khabarovsk Territory, Yakutia, and touches certain regions of Chukotka and Kamchatka. Paving its way to the ocean through permafrost, skirting the rocky mountains, the Kolyma River flows into the East Siberian Sea with three powerful mouths:

• Eastern - navigable Stone Kolyma, which has a solid 20-kilometer width. The length of the mouth is 50 km, and the depth is almost 9 m.

• Medium - by the Hiking Kolyma, a 25 km long sleeve, 0.5 to 2 km wide and 3.5-4.5 m deep.

• Western - Chukchi Kolyma, which also has very impressive dimensions: a length of 60 km, a width of 3-4 km and a depth of 8-9 m.

The length of the delta at the base is about 110 km, and its area extends almost 3 thousand square meters. Km.

Extent and features

How long is the river? Kolyma has a length of 2129 km, and if you count from the source of Kenelich - the river, which is the right tributary of Kulu, it increases to 2,513 km. Almost 1400 km of Kolyma flows through the expanses of the Magadan Region, the rest of its path lies along Yakutia, and the sources are in the Khabarovsk Territory.

The area of the river basin is very impressive - 643 thousand square meters. Km. On the left bank lies the Kolyma Valley, which naturally divides the Kolyma and Indigirka basins. The structural composition of the highland includes multiple inclusions of crystallized igneous rocks belonging to the Mesozoic period, which ensures the presence of gold deposits in these areas. The violent temper of the mountain tops of the river with dangerous thresholds is gradually being replaced in the flat plain of the Kolyma lowland by a confidently calm current. The river bed is extremely sinuous, forming a huge number of sleeves. Some places along the banks are very interesting - the water blurs the lava rocks, exposing the so-called "talas", ancient loose deposits - fertile places for archaeological research, in which bones of mammoths were found. In some places the banks are swamped or covered with a viscous silt that can kill an animal and even a human being.

After the Kolyma Highlands the river's path is laid along the expanses of Yakutia, the main gold-bearing vein of the Russian republic. Here the left-bank side of the Kolyma is gradually moving from the lowland plain to the northern tundra.

The Kolyma River: tributaries

On the right side of the river in the direction to the north-west stretch the granite-slate Kolyma mountains, covered with remarkable coniferous vegetation. Here all the right tributaries of the Kolyma - Bahapcha, Bujunda, Balygichan, Sugoy, Korkodon, Berezovka, Kamenka, Omolon, Maly and Bolshoy Anyu begin. The left tributaries are Seymchan, Taskan, Yasachnaya, Popovka, Zyryanka, Ozhogina, Sedemema, and others. It is not for nothing that in the ancient legends composed by the indigenous peoples of Eastern Siberia, the Kolyma River was compared to the mother of many children, who nurtured, nurtured and raised 35 children. It is precisely so many tributaries-more or less significant rivers-that Kolyma has. According to legend, the aging mother river gave the children the mandate: to be generous, full-fledged, commercial, take care of people living side by side. Only one tributary of Omolon was supposed to become a support for herself. And in fact, this influx is the first to be released from the ice in spring, feeding the Kolyma.

A winding path to the ocean

Squirming in all directions, the Kolyma River keeps its way from the southwest to the northwest, sometimes sharply turning sideways and making a huge knee. So, before the left influx of Shumikha, Kolyma keeps the path to the northeast, then leaves to the southeast, gradually aligns the direction to the north to the confluence of the Zyryanka River into it . So, squirming and turning, Kolyma reaches the tract of Vyatkin, from where it again turns to the southeast, and then changes direction to the north-west to the town of Srednekolymsk and again turns to the northeast. This direction is also preserved from the main tributary of Omolon, but after the confluence of the Anyui River, it turns to the north-west, preserving this direction to the very gulf in the Arctic Ocean.

Such a sinuous flow contributes to the formation of many ducts. For example, below the Verkhnekolymsk Shipanovskaya channel created a fairly large on the territory of the Shipanovsky Island, in the lower reaches of the Konyaevoy River several small ducts formed a whole scattering of islands, called today the Frequent Isles. Departed from the main channel in the area of the natural boundary Crosses of the Zakhrebetnaya duct connects with Kolyma near Nizhnekolymsk, creating a huge elongated island 110 km in length and a width varying from 10 to 20 km.

Hydrological characteristics

Kolyma is a river of mixed food, mostly snow-rain with a gradation of 47% and 42%. 11% falls on replenishment by underground waters. In summer, the water level drops noticeably, rising only during prolonged rains. There are also short-term floods. The water temperature in the river is stably low, usually not rising more than 10-15 ° C, and only on quiet, permeated shallow waters by the end of July can warm up to 20-22 ° C. Kolyma freezes in October, in the cold years - at the end of September. Ice drift is preceded by ice drift, formation of sludge and the appearance of gluttons, the duration of which is from 2 days to a month.

It is liberated from the ice of the Kolyma River by the beginning of the calendar summer. Ice drift can last from 2 to 18 days, it is often accompanied by impressive congestion.

Shipping

Starting from the mouth of the river Bahakhchi, Kolyma becomes navigable. However, regular movement of vessels is carried out from the port of Seimchan. The duration of the active navigation period is 4-5 months. The main ports of Kolyma are Seymchan, Zyryanka, Chersky.

Using Man

In the lower reaches of the river, fisheries are developed, and minerals are mined. A powerful beautiful northern river today serves man, providing it not only with commercial fish species, but also with electricity generated by Kolyma HPP. This hydroelectric power plant. Yu. I. Frishter was built near the village of Sinegorje and produces so much electricity that is enough to supply 95% of the region. Kolyma HPP is only the upper step of the Kolyma cascade of hydroelectric stations. Today, the construction of the Ust-Srednekanskaya HPP, which is the second stage of the cascade, is coming to an end. In 2013, the first hydraulic units were commissioned, and the full commissioning of the station will ensure the reliability of the energy supply of the whole region and the effective development of the mining industry of the region.

This is how the Kolyma River, a mighty and not fully studied by the person, lives today. The photos presented in the publication demonstrate her beauty and power, helping the reader to imagine the amazing charm of the mysterious northern beauty-river.