Stony Tunguska River

The Stony Tunguska River (Russian: Подкаменная Тунгуска or Podkámmenaia Tunguska; literally, "Tunguska under the stones") is a long and mighty Asian river, located in northern Siberia, a tributary of the lower course of the Yenisei River. Its total length is 1,865 km and its vast basin drains an area of 240,000 km². Administratively, the river runs entirely through the Krasnoyarsk Krai of the Russian Federation, although its sources originate in the Irkutsk Oblast.

The name of the river derives from the fact that in several sections it runs underground, under fields of pebbles. It is known because the so-called Tunguska Bolide took place in the region in 1908, a large explosion probably caused by a meteorite.

Geography

The Stony Tunguska River arises from the confluence of the Tetere River (486 km and a basin of 13,700 km²) and the Kátanga River (the latter being the longest, which originates at an altitude of 812 m) in the Altos del Angará, near the town of Tetere, located about 400 km north of Bratsk (259,300 inhabitants in 2002), in the Irkutsk oblast. About 100 km from its source, there are also the sources of the Lower Tunguska River - which after a completely different course, also flows into the Yenisei River, more than 600 km to the north - and one of its main tributaries, the Nepa.

The Stony Tunguska River runs first in a northerly direction, until it reaches Vanavara, where it turns and heads west. It passes through Chamba, Oskoba Solzavod, Miriuga and Taimba. Here it turns heading northwest, passing through Stalino, Ust-Kamo (where it receives the Kamo River on the left), Kuiumba and Turama. Then, shortly before Baikit, it receives the Chunia River on the right. It continues its course, increasingly in a westerly direction, passing through Poligus, Kochenyata and near Bumij, describing a wide curve towards the north, passing through Kuzmovka and Kukui. In the final section, after passing through Sulomai, it approaches, at the northern end of the Yenisei Heights, the lower course of the Yenisei River on its left, near the town that gives it its name, Podkámennaya Tunguska and not far from the town of Bor, on the other shore.

In its course it receives numerous tributaries, the main ones being, on the right, the Chunia River (with a length, including its sources, of 980 km, a basin of 70,500 km² and a flow of 435 m/s); and on the left, the Kamo River (with a length of 339 km and a basin of 14,500 km²) and the Velmó River (with a length of 504 km and a basin of 33,800 km²).

Like many other Siberian rivers, the large size of its basin does not correspond to real economic importance, due to the harsh climate of the areas through which it flows, so that only a few live in the basin. tens of thousands of people. The severity of the climate means that the river is frozen most of the year, from October to May. In the summer the river is navigable from the mouth to Baikit, 571 km upstream.

Hydrography

The river has an average flow, at the mouth, of around 1750 m³/s, which varies from the minimum 3-15 m³/s in winter to a maximum in summer that can reach 35,000 m³/s, when causes extensive flooding.

Measurement	Distance to mouth (km)	Minimum	Maximum	Media
Sulomai	73	285	7.104	1.808
Kusmowka	209	227	6.608	1.587
Baikit	571	103	4.961	974
Ust-Kamo	757	36	1.812	347
Tschemdal	1.375	11	566	106

Tunguska racing car

The river basin is known for the Tunguska bolide, a huge explosion that took place on June 30, 1908 about 65 km from Vanavara, located on the banks of the river. It devastated a very large area, only causing the death of many millions of trees in an area of 2,150 km², given that the area was practically unpopulated. The origin of the explosion, in principle the fall of an asteroid, is still not fully determined. The power of the blast is estimated at around 10-15 megatons.