What are the tributaries of the Volga
What are the tributaries of the Volga
The Volga is one of the largest rivers in thethe planet and the largest river in Europe. It flows in the European part of Russia and has a length of 3530 kilometers, as well as a basin area of 1.36 million square kilometers. The Volga has a multitude of tributaries, channels and small rivers - which of these are the largest?
Geography of the Volga
Its origin is taken by the Volga in the Valdaielevations (height 228 meters), it flows into the Caspian Sea basin. The mouth of the river is below the ocean level - almost 28 meters, and the height of its total fall is 256 meters. Altogether, the Volga has 200 tributaries, the left ones of which are much more numerous and more numerous than the right. The river system of the Volga basin includes 151 thousand watercourses in the form of rivers, streams and temporary tributaries, the total length of which is 574 thousand kilometers. The basin of the river extends from the western (Central Russian and Valdai) uplands to the eastern Urals. At the Saratov latitude the Volga basin sharply narrows and further flows from Kamyshin to the Caspian Sea completely without tributaries. The main feeder of the river catchment area of the Volga is the largest watercourse, located in the forest zone, stretching to Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod. Through the forest-steppe zone, stretching to Saratov and Samara, the middle part of the giant Volga basin flows, and its lower part flows to Volgograd in the steppe zone.The main tributaries of the Volga
The Volga is conventionally divided into upper, middle andlower part. The upper one flows from the source to the mouth of the Oka River, the middle one - from the place where the Oka flows into the mouth of the Kama, the lower one - from the place where Kama flows into the Caspian Sea basin. The largest tributaries of the Volga in its upper reaches are Selizharovka (36 km long), Dark (142 km long), Tverts (length 188 km), Mologa (length 456 km), Sheksna (length 139 km) and Unzha (length 426 km) After the construction of the Kuibyshev reservoir, the boundary between the lower and middle Volga is the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station. The largest tributaries of the Volga in the middle reaches are Sura (length 841 kilometers), Vetluga (length 889 kilometers) and Sviyaga (length 375 kilometers). In the lower reaches of the river there are such large tributaries as Sok (length 364 kilometers), Samara (length 594 kilometers), Bolshoy Irgiz (length 675 kilometers) and Yerslan (length 278 kilometers). In total in the delta of the Volga River there are about 500 different tributaries, small streams and channels, the largest of which are the Old Volga, Kamyzyak, Bakhtemir, Akhtub, Buzan and Bolda. The river has a huge economic potential and irrigates on its way a lot of areas that need additional recharge.
