Irtysh River
Length: 4248 km
The basin area: 1 643 000 km2
The Irtysh river is a river in Siberia and Kazakhstan, the main tributary of the Ob. The length of the Irtysh is 4248 km, which exceeds the length of the river Ob. Irtysh together with the Ob river – the longest river in Russia, the second longest in Asia and the seventh in the world (5410 km).
Geographical position.
The Irtysh river is the longest river-inflow in the world (on the second place – Missouri). Flows through the territory of China (525 kilometers), Kazakhstan (1,700 km) and Russia (2010 km). The basin area is 54 thousand km2. The origins of the Irtysh river located on the border of Mongolia and China, on the Eastern slopes of the ridge of the Mongolian Altai. From China called the Black Irtysh, he falls in Kazakhstan, passes through Zaisan depression, falls into a flowing lake Zaisan. At the mouth of the Black Irtysh is a large Delta. In Zaisan flows into many rivers with the Rudny Altai, ridges Tarbagatai and Saur. Multiplied these waters of the Irtysh river flows from lake Zaisan on the Northwest through Bukhtarminskaya HPP and followed located Ust-Kamenogorsk HPP. Downstream are Shulbinskaya HPP and the city of Semipalatinsk. Just above Pavlodar Irtysh water takes the channel Irtysh – Karaganda, the current West. In the district of Khanty-Mansiysk is the Irtysh river flows into the Ob.
Hydrology the river.
The power of the Irtysh mixed: in the upper reaches of the snow, ice and less rain; in the lower reaches of snow, rain and soil. The nature of water regime also varies considerably. In the upstream flood begins in April, the maximum in April – June, the recession lasts until October; the river flow is regulated. In the lower reaches of the flood from late may to September, the maximum in June. 50 % of the annual runoff held in spring, in the upper reaches of the share of the flow in summer and fall by 20 %, in winter 10%), Tobolsk, respectively 27 %, 19 % and 7 %. Average consumption in Ust-Kamenogorsk 628 m3/s, Semipalatinsk about 960 m3/s, Omsk 917 m3/s, Tobolsk 2150 m3/s at the mouth about 3000 m3/sec, annual flow of about 95 km3. The fluctuations in a higher level of lake Zaisan 4.4 m, Omsk 7 m, Ust-Ishim 12.7 m, to the mouth decreased. The total catchment area is 1 643 000 square km of the Slope of the order of 0.03 m / km. The freeze-up on the Irtysh precedes the ice lasting about 20 days in the upper and 6-10 days in the lower reaches. Freezes in the upper reaches at the end of November, in the lower reaches in early November, opened in April.
Commercial use.
The water of the Irtysh used to power the channel Irtysh – Karaganda (the withdrawal of water from the Irtysh channel on average 75 m3/s), for water supply and irrigation. Regular navigation on 3 784 km from the downstream of Ust-Kamenogorsk HPP to the mouth. Navigation from April to November. At present JSC «Irtysh shipping company» provides multi-day passenger lines on the lines of Omsk-Salekhard (through Tobolsk and Khanty-Mansiysk). For the period of three months navigation on this route the ships go «Chernyshevsky» and «Rodina». Today it is one of the few preserved river passenger routes in Russia. Below lake Zaisan-Irtysh built Irtysh cascade of hydroelectric power station includes Bukhtarma, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shulbinsk HPP. In 2010 a project for the construction of a low-head dam North of Omsk – Krasnogorskaya waterworks. The project is carried out in the target program of the Omsk region «Construction of Krasnogorsk, the hydropower station on the river Irtysh.
