The River Kolyma

Kolyma river

The River Kolyma.
Length: 2 129 km
The area of the basin: 643 000 km2

The river Kolyma river in Yakutia and the Magadan region of Russia. Evens, on the territory of the settlement which is a river called her Kulu; now the name of Kullu preserved only by the right part of the Kolyma river. Evensk. Kula (the slope of the beach of the river, facing North; North slope), which was unlikely to give the name of the great river. Perhaps borrowing the names of evens of the Koryak. -Chukot. cool (deep river), which is more convincing, the name of the river’s lower reaches Pathfinder M Stadukhin in bringing 1643 mentions as Kolyma-river, later Kolyma. Etymological connection between Kullu and Kolyma is not installed. There is also the opinion of Yukagir origin of the hydronym Kolyma, but this etymology is also not yet developed.

Geographical position.

The river is formed from the confluence of Ayan-Yuryakh and Kulu, originating in the Okhotsk-Kolyma upland. The length of 65 km from the source of the river Kisielice, the right part of the river Kullu – 2513 km), of which about 1.4 thousand km on the territory of the Magadan region, the rest – on the territory of Yakutia. The area of the basin 643 thousand km2. Flows into the Kolyma Bay of the East Siberian sea the three main canals: the Kolyma (Stone), right, shipping, and today, a few Chukochya. The length of the Delta 110 km, an area of 3000 km2.

Hydrology the river.

The river is mixed: snow (47 %), rain (42 %) and underground (11 %). Flood from mid-may to September. Amplitude of oscillations of the level up to 14 M. the Average consumption of water from Srednekolymsk (641 km from the mouth) 2250 m3/s, maximum – 25 100 m3/s (June), the lowest – 23,5 m3/s (April).
The annual discharge at the mouth 123 km (3,900 m3/s). The average annual sediment load 5.5 million tons In summer, the water level in the Kolyma river falls, and only during the rainy season, there is a rise of the water and the formation of short-term floods. The temperature of the water in the river is low – 10-15 C, and only in the quietest in late July – early August reaches 20-22. Freezes in mid-October, more rarely at the end of September. Before the ice freeze-up and shagohod duration from 2 days to months, ice dams. In winter, ice, river bed and extensive ground. Opened in the 2nd half of may-beginning of June. The ice lasts from 2 to 18 days, accompanied by congestion.

Commercial use.

Kolyma navigable from the mouth of the river Bohapcha (regular shipping is from Seimchan); navigation 4-5 months. Main ports: Seimchan (Kolyma), Zyrianka and at the mouth of Chersky (Green Cape). On the river Kolyma located hydroelectric power station, which provides electricity to a large part of the Magadan region and city Magadan, built at the Ust-Srednekanskaya HPP. In the Kolyma – gold deposits. In the lower reaches fishing (vendace, whitefish, salmon, omul).

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