Where is the source of the Yenisei River. The Yenisei River: the source and the mouth

In the Kara Sea (the outskirts of the Arctic Ocean) the mighty Yenisei carries its waters. The official document (State Register of Water Objects) establishes: the source of the Yenisei River is the place of the confluence of the Small Yenisei and Bolshoy. But not all geographers agree with this point. Answering the question "where is the source of the Yenisei River?", They indicate other places on maps, give other versions for measuring the extent of the river and, as a consequence, other hydrological characteristics.

Some characteristics of the Yenisei

According to hydrogeological indicators of water availability, Yenisei is the leader among the five largest rivers in Russia.

Other versions

Some scientists disagree with the official data and take other geographical points for the source of the Yenisei River, arguing that the source of the river starts from the place where a constant flow is clearly detected. It can be a spring, the flow of a stream from a swamp, a lake or from under a glacier.

The table shows the officially accepted length of rivers. For the Yenisei, Lena, the Amur and the Ob are taken for their beginning the places of the confluence of large tributaries in the upper reaches. For example, the source of the Ob River is that some geographers consider the Irtysh River. Then we can talk about the length of the Ob River at 5,410 km. Taking the beginning of the Ob River for the beginning of the Katun, we will get 4338 km. As can be seen, the results in both versions will differ significantly from the official ones, depending on which point is taken as zero for measuring the extent of the rivers. The example with measuring the length of the Cupid is analogous. In the state water register, the specified length - 2,824 km - is determined from the merger of Shilka with Argun, and if the kilometer count is from the source of Argun, the length of the Amur is 4440 km. The true source of the Lena begins at an altitude of 1680 m, and in official documents this is a point with a vertical mark of 1480 m, therefore, the length of the Lena on the terrain is slightly larger than 3448 km.

Approximate calculations

We calculate according to this principle the length of the watercourse, taking the distance of 605 km for the source of the Yenisei river, using the reference data on the extent of the Bolshoy Yenisei River. It is longer than the Small (563 km). In total, 4,092 km will be obtained - and this is the length of the Yenisei according to the "Russian" version.

But there is a "Mongolian" theory, according to which the length of the Small Yenisei, taking into account the inflow into it in the upper reaches - 615 km. Then the length of the Yenisei is 5002 km.

Some geographers offer a third option for calculating the length, arguing that the source of the Yenisei River is the Selenga River, originating in Mongolia and flowing into Lake Baikal. Its length is 1024 km, and it is the largest among 336 creeks and rivers feeding the lake. In this version, other components are taken into account: the length of the Angara River in 1779 km, as well as the distance between the mouth of the Selenga and the source of the Angara along the territory of Lake Baikal. As a result, by adding the indicated lengths with the distance from the mouth of the Yenisei to the confluence of the Angara into it, the length of the watercourse is 5075 m. But the question arises whether to consider the Yenisei as the main river, or it will be the tributary of the Angara, and at the point of their merging, the Angara Is wider in 2-3 times Yenisei. The second question is: will Lake Baikal have the status of a lake, or is it part of the Yenisei (Angara)?

From the length of the watercourse in direct dependence is the catchment area of the basin, which covers the Yenisei River. The source and estuary established in each of these versions significantly increase other hydrological parameters (catchment area, river discharge and annual runoff).

Official reference point

So what place should be taken for the source of the Yenisei River? Most likely, it is necessary to adhere to the data of the State Water Register. In it the place of confluence of two mountain streams (Big and Small Yenisei) is at a distance of 3487 km from the confluence of the river into the Kara Sea and it is indicated that the Yenisei River begins from here. "Wikipedia" source points this same point. Its coordinates are indicated: northern latitude 51 deg. 43 min. 47 seconds, eastern longitude 94 deg. 27 min. 18 seconds The height of the source of the Yenisei River is 619.5 m above sea level.

Fall and slope of the river

Altai-Sayan highlands, intermountain hollows, Minusinsk hollow - these large relief forms cross the Yenisei River. The source and the mouth are in such hypsometric marks of the earth's surface: from 619.5 m to 0 m (sea level). The total drop is 619.5 m, and the average slope is 0.18 m / km. That is, for each km of the channel flow there is a decrease in its lower reaches by 18 cm, in comparison with the upper reaches.

Such a deviation of the river would be at a uniform inclination of the earth's surface from south to north. But the nature of the planet did not provide for an ideal geometry. Therefore, the Yenisei River (the source and mouth here and further in the text are accepted according to official information), depending on the terrain and the slope of the terrain, is divided into three sections - upper, middle and lower.

Upper Yenisei

This site begins where the source of the Yenisei River is. The share of the Upper Yenisei (the local name of the river is Ulug-Khem) is 600 km. It ends at the confluence of the Abakan River with an elevation of 243.6 m. The height of the source of the Yenisei River is 619.5 m. On a length of 188 km, the channel width is from 100 to 650 m with depths on the reaches of at least 4 and up to 12 m, up to 1 m on the ruts. The flow velocity in rapids metam reaches 8 m / s, the average speed in summer is 2-2.5 m / s. Then, a 290 km long reservoir formed by the dam of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric dam, 236 m in height, begins. A few kilometers from it, there is a small reservoir of the Mainskaya HPP with a length of 21.5 km.

The fall of the Upper Yenisei is 375.9 m. The average slope is 0.63 m per kilometer of the channel. The values of such deviations are typical for mountain type rivers, which corresponds to the terrain conditions (Sayan Canyon, northern side of the Tuva Basin, rapids, high flow velocity).

Middle Yenisei

The beginning of the middle part of the Yenisei is considered to be the confluence of the river. Abakan - at 2887 km from the mouth with a mark of 243.6 m. The river gradually loses its signs of a mountainous character. The valley becomes wide (up to 5 km), the speed of the current decreases to 1-2 m / s in the channel width of 500 m.

The average Yenisei begins with a Krasnoyarsk reservoir, the length of which is 388 km with an average width of 15 km. The lower boundary of the artificial reservoir is higher than Krasnoyarsk.

Endsya Middle Enisei at the confluence of the Angara River at 2137 km from the mouth with a height of 79 m. Between Krasnoyarsk and Strelka (a settlement near the mouth of the Angara) the width of the Yenisei is up to 1300 m, the current slows down to 0.8 m / s.

The length of the Middle Yenisei is 750 km. The slope of the site with a total fall of 164.9 m is 0.22 m - with each kilometer of advance northward to the Kara Sea the channel "falls" by 22 cm.

Lower Yenisei

This is the longest stretch of a length of 2,137 km - from the confluence of the Angara to the mouth of the Yenisei in the Sopochnaya Karga line. After the confluence of the Lower Tunguska, the bed becomes wide, reaching 5 km. The current slows down to 0.2 m / s. In the estuary, the river is divided into 4 main channels, each of which is called the Yenisei, but is supplemented by the definition: Okhotsk, Kamenny, Bolshoy and Maly. The total width of the channels is 50 km. Between the channels, the vast Brekhov Islands, skirting which, they rejoin once again into one channel, forming the Yenisei Gulf near the outskirts of the Kara Sea. The river has the features of a plain: the slope is not more than 0.04 (up to 4 cm per kilometer), the speed of the current is almost imperceptible, often there are upsurge phenomena - the flow of water from the sea into the bay.

Hydrology of the river

The Yenisei food is mixed, consisting of half of the snow. The share of rainfall - 35%, groundwater in the upper reaches contribute 15%, to the lower reaches their participation in the feeding of the river is reduced.

Ledostav, forerunners of which are in-water ice and autumn ice drift, begins from the lower reaches in early October, in the middle reaches this is the middle of November, in the upper reaches - the end of November-December. The winter runoff is sharply reduced.

Spring floods are stretched, beginning on the average Yenisei from the end of April. In the upper reaches it starts a little later. In the lower reaches - from the middle of May to the first decade of June. When ice drifts are formed. Raising the levels to 7 m in the extensions and up to 16 m in the narrowings of the channel. In the lower reaches, the level is higher - up to 28 m (Kureika), but to the estuary it drops to 12 m.

What is famous for the father-Yenisei

Greatness: the river ranks first in the TOP-5 of the largest rivers in Russia.

It flows through the center of Asia - the capital of Tuva, the city of Kyzyl.

Separates its channel Western Siberia from the East and about half divides the expanses of Russia.

"Where is the source of the Yenisei River?" - this issue still causes the greatest number of disagreements among geographers.

You can get from Mongolia to the Kara Sea, rafting along the Selenga, Lake Baikal, Angara and the Yenisei.