Kolima River

The Kolyma River (Russian: Река Колымá) is one of the great rivers of Russia, located in the extreme northeast of Siberia and which drains into the Gulf of Kolyma, a stretch of coast in the central part of the East Siberian Sea. It is 2,513 km long and drains a basin of 679,934 km².

Administratively, the river flows through the Sakha Republic and the Magadan Oblast, although its basin also includes parts of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Geography

The Kolyma River is 2,513 km long and drains a basin of 679,934 km², making it the sixth longest river in Russia - after the Yenisei, Lena, Obi, Amur and Volga - and among the 40 longest. longest in the world. It has 275 tributaries more than 10 km long. The average width of the river is 150-170 m, with an average depth of 6 m and an average displacement of 10 km/h. Its flow rate when draining is 4,060 m³/s.

The most populated cities along the river are Seimchan, Zyryanka, Srednekolymsk (3,652 inhabitants in 2006) and Chersky.

Course of the river

The Kolyma River rises in the Kolyma massif, a mountain range and gold-bearing region located in Magadan. It begins flowing in a southeast direction, to head northeast at the end of the Cherski Mountains. It then heads northwest, crossing the swampy plains of Eastern Siberia, along the Janska Plateau, before turning northeast again. To the west of the Ankhui massif, the river flows through the Kolyma plain and gives rise to a delta 150 km wide and 100 km long; the main arm forms an estuary of an equivalent length in it.

A dam was built on the Kolyma River at the time of the Gulag labor camps, upstream from the city of Debin, when the road from Magadan to Ust-Nera (the Kolyma track) crosses the river at one of the two existing bridges in its path. The second bridge is located near the city of Ust-Srednekan and includes a port specially designed for the transportation of coal mined in the region. From here, the Kolimá is navigable.

Importance

The Kolyma River is mostly bordered by taiga, which turns into tundra near the coast. In this region, one of the coldest inhabited areas on Earth, the permafrost and the small amount of water in the soil do not allow trees to grow: it is the kingdom of mosses, lichens, shrubs and ferns.

This river is the habitat of pike, perch, salmon and American grayling (Thymallus arcticus). On land, there are moose, bears, bighorn sheep, wild reindeer, whooping and sandhill cranes, and many other kinds of rare birds.

Navigation

The river is frozen, up to several meters deep, from October to June, a period during which the Arctic Sea is also usually frozen. The frozen river becomes the main highway in the region. When the waters are free, 2,000 km of river can be used for river traffic.

Tributaries

The most important and longest tributaries of the Kolimá River are the following, going from the mouth to the sources:

• Anyuy river (Aniюй), on the right, a short river of only 8 km formed by the confluence of two large rivers, the great and the small Anyuy:

• River Bolshói Anyuy, with a length of 693 km and a basin of 57,200 km2;
• Maly Anyuy river, with a length of 738 km and a basin of 49.800 km2.

• river Omolón (Омолон), on the right, the main of its tributaries, with a length of 1,114 km and a large basin of 113,600 km2;
• Beriózovka river (Boерёзовка), on the right, with a length of 517 km and a basin of 24.800 km2;
• by the left, with a length of 567 km and a basin of 18,500 km2;
• river Ozhóguina, on the left, with a length of 523 km and a basin of 24,300 km2;
• river Zyryanka, on the left, with a length of 299 km and a basin of 7.310 km2;
• River Yasáchnaya (Aurora) on the left, with a length of 490 km and a basin of 35.900 km2;
• Popovka river (Pophop), on the left, with a length of 356 km and a basin of 8,350 km2;
• Korkodon river (Коркодон), on the right, with a length of 476 km and a basin of 42,800 km2;
• river Sugói (Сугой), on the right, with a length of 347 km and a basin of 26,100 km2;
• Balygychán (Baldālān), on the right, with a length of 400 km and a basin of 17,600 km2;
• Bujunda river (Boуюнда), on the right, with a length of 434 km and a basin of 24,800 km2;
• Kulu river (Кулу), the right source, with a length of 384 km (including the small river Kenelichi, Кеньеличи);
• Ayán-Yuryaj river (Aян-шрях), the left source, with a length of 237 km and a basin of 24,100 km2;

Other tributaries are, on the left, the Taskán (Таскан) and Seimchán (Сеймчан) rivers; and on the right, the Bajapcha (Бахапча) (291 km) and Kámenka (Каменка) rivers.

Hydrology

History

In 1892-94, Baron Eduard Toll carried out geological studies in the Kolyma basin (among other rivers in distant Eastern Siberia), on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences. For one year and two days, the expedition covered 25,000 km, of which 4,200 km were by river, carrying out geodetic surveys in the campaign. The Kolima hydrographic basin is one of the geological areas with the oldest visible permafrost on the planet.

The mouth of the river was studied in depth in 1909, in a scientific expedition in the East Siberian Sea led by Georgy Sedov.

Unfortunately, the Kolyma Basin is best known for the gold mines and Gulag labor camps that were active until 1956. Both have been extensively documented since the opening of Stalin's Soviet-era archives. The river gives its title to the famous anthology about life in the Gulag written by Varlam Shalámov, Tales from Kolyma.

Since the camps were closed, state subsidies, local industries and communications have been reduced to almost nothing. Many people have emigrated, but those who remain in the area make a living from fishing and hunting.