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The Indigirka ( rus, Индиги́рка, r=; sah, Индигиир, translit=Indigiir) is a river in the
Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...
in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
between the Yana to the west and the
Kolyma Kolyma (russian: Колыма́, ) is a region located in the Russian Far East. It is bounded to the north by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and by the Sea of Okhotsk to the south. The region gets its name from the Kolyma River ...
to the east. It is long. The area of its basin is .


History

The isolated village of Russkoye Ustye, located on the delta of the Indigirka, is known for the unique traditional culture of the Russian settlers whose ancestors came there several centuries ago. Some historians have speculated that Russkoye Ustye was settled by Pomors in the early 17th century. In 1638 explorer Ivan Rebrov reached the Indigirka. In 1636–42 Elisei Buza pioneered the overland route to the Indigirka river system. At about the same time, Poznik Ivanov ascended a tributary of the lower Lena, crossed the Verkhoyansk Range to the upper Yana, and then crossed the
Chersky Range The Chersky Range (, ) is a chain of mountains in northeastern Siberia between the Yana River and the Indigirka River. Administratively the area of the range belongs to the Sakha Republic, although a small section in the east is within Magada ...
to the Indigirka. In 1642 Mikhail Stadukhin reached the Indigirka overland from the Lena. Zashiversk on the Indigirka was an important colonial outpost during the early days of Russian colonization. It was subsequently abandoned in the 19th century. Other historical settlements, now long abandoned, were Podshiversk and Uyandinskoye Zimov'ye. In 1892–94
Baron Eduard Von Toll Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll (russian: Эдуа́рд Васи́льевич Толль, translit=Eduárd Vasíl'evič Toll'; 1902), better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian ge ...
carried out geological surveys in the basin of the Indigirka (among other Far-eastern Siberian rivers) on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences. During one year and two days the expedition covered , of which were up rivers, carrying out geodesic surveys en route.


Course

It originates at the confluence of the long Tuora-Yuryakh (also known as Khastakh, Khalkan or Kalkan) river and the long Taryn-Yuryakh, both of which originate on the slopes of the Khalkan Range. In its higher course, the river flows northwestwards along the Yana-Oymyakon Highlands, through the lowest part of the
Oymyakon Plateau The Oymyakon Plateau ( rus, Оймяконское плоскогорье, sah, Өймөкөөн үрдэлэ) is a mountain plateau in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. The plateau is in the area of the famous Oymyak ...
. Turning north, it cuts through several subranges of the
Chersky Range The Chersky Range (, ) is a chain of mountains in northeastern Siberia between the Yana River and the Indigirka River. Administratively the area of the range belongs to the Sakha Republic, although a small section in the east is within Magada ...
. At the point where it crosses the Chemalgin Range the river narrows and flows into a deep gorge, forming rapids. Where it is joined by the
Moma river The Moma (russian: Мома; sah, Муома) is a river in Yakutia in Russia, a right tributary of the Indigirka. The length of the river is , the area of its drainage basin is . The extinct cinder cone volcanoes Balagan-Tas and Uraga-Tas are ...
from the southeast, the Indigirka reaches the Momo-Selennyakh Depression, a wide intermontane basin and the middle course of the river begins, where its valley expands. Turning northwards, the Indigirka cuts deeply across the Moma Range and flows northeastwards meandering across the Aby Lowland and widening to . After flowing between the neck formed by the eastern end of the Polousny Range and the western end of the Ulakhan-Chistay Range, it flows north with the Kondakov Plateau to the est across the Yana-Indigirka Lowland, part of the greater
East Siberian Lowland The East Siberian Lowland ( rus, Восточно-Сибирская низменность), also known as Yana-Kolyma Lowland,Oleg Leonidovič Kryžanovskij, ''A Checklist of the Ground-beetles of Russia and Adjacent Lands.'' p. 16 is a vast plai ...
. Further north, where the terrain becomes completely flat, the Indigirka divides into branches from the mouth, forming a wide delta. Its waters end up in the Kolyma Bay,
East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( rus, Восто́чно-Сиби́рское мо́ре, r=Vostochno-Sibirskoye more) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New ...
.
Gusinaya Bay Gusinaya Bay (russian: Гусиная губа; sah, Хаастаах тамах) is a bay in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russian Federation.Google Earth Geography The bay opens to the east in the southern limits of the East Siberian Sea. It is ...
is located to the northwest of the mouths of the Indigirka.
Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
The Indigirka freezes up in October and stays under the ice until May–June.


Tributaries

The main
tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drain ...
of the Indigirka are, from source to mouth: *
Khastakh The Khastakh or Tuora-Yuryakh (russian: Хастах; sah, Хаастаах, ''Xaastaax'') is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is one of the two tributaries giving origin to the Indigirka. The river has a length of and a dra ...
(Tuora-Yuryakh) (left) * Taryn-Yuryakh (right) * Kuydusun (left) * Kyuente (left) * Elgi (left) * Nera (right) *
Chibagalakh The Chibagalakh ( rus, Чибагалах; sah, Чыбаҕалаах, ''Çıbağalaax'') is a river in the Republic of Sakha in Russia. It is a left hand tributary of the Indigirka. It is long, with a drainage basin of . Grayling, whitefish ...
(left) *
Moma Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; ...
(right) * Selennyakh (left) * Druzhina (left) * Badyarikha (right) *
Uyandina The Uyandina (russian: Уяндина; sah, Уйаандьы, translit=Uyaancı) is a river in Yakutia, Russia, a tributary of the Indigirka. The length of the Uyandina is . The area of its drainage basin is . Course The river is formed by the ...
(left) *
Shangina The Shangina ( rus, Шангина; sah, Шангин) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It has a length of and a drainage basin of . It is a right tributary of the Indigirka, flowing across the Middle Kolyma and Aby districts. ...
(right) *
Bolshaya Ercha The Bolshaya Ercha (russian: Большая Эрча) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is a tributary of the Indigirka. The river has a length of and a drainage basin area of . The river flows north of the Arctic Circle, ac ...
(right) * Allaikha (left) *
Byoryolyokh The Byoryolyokh (russian: Бёрёлёх,Shandrin The Shandrin ( rus, Шандрин) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It has a length of and a drainage basin of . It is a left tributary of the Indigirka, flowing across the Allaikhovsky District. There are no inhabited places in ...
(right, into Kolymskaya)


Ports, settlements and economy

Main ports on the river are: *
Khonuu Khonuu (russian: Хонуу; sah, Хонуу, ''Xonuu'') is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Momsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the right bank of the Indigirka River. Population: Geography K ...
* Druzhina *
Chokurdakh Chokurdakh (russian: Чокурда́х; sah, Чокуурдаах) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Allaikhovsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia. As of the 2010 Census, its population was& ...
*
Tabor Tabor may refer to: Places Czech Republic * Tábor, a town in the South Bohemian Region ** Tábor District, the surrounding district * Tábor, a village and part of Velké Heraltice in the Moravian-Silesian Region Israel * Mount Tabor, Galilee ...
There is a
gold prospecting Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prosp ...
industry in the Indigirka basin. Ust-Nera, a gold-mining center, is the largest settlement on the river. The Indigirka teems with a variety of fishes. Among the most valuable are several whitefish species, such as vendace, chir, muksun, inconnu (''nelma''), omul, etc.


Mouths

The Indigirka forms a large delta, consisting of a number of streams (each one being labeled on Russian maps as a ''photo ka'' ( river arm)) and islands. About before reaching the East Siberian Sea (), the river splits into two major northeast-flowing
streams A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams a ...
. The left (westernmost) arm is known as the ''Russko-Ustyinskaya Protoka''; the right arm, the ''Srednyaya Protoka'' (Russian for the "Middle Arm"). Further downstream, the third major arm, the ''Kolymskaya Protoka'' splits off the ''Srednyaya Protoka'' as its right (eastern) distributary, thus justifying the "middle" moniker for the Srednyaya Protoka.Indigirka
in the
Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
.
While ''Srednyaya Protoka'' means the "Middle Arm", the names of the main western and eastern arms indicate their relative location as well. The ''Kolymskaya Protoka'', or ''Kolymskoye Ustye'' is the arm one located on the eastern side, i.e. the "Kolyma side" of the delta (the arm closest to the
Kolyma Kolyma (russian: Колыма́, ) is a region located in the Russian Far East. It is bounded to the north by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and by the Sea of Okhotsk to the south. The region gets its name from the Kolyma River ...
, the eastern neighbor of the Indigirka). The ''Russko-Ustyinskaya Protoka'', apparently known earlier as simply ''Russkoye Ustye'' Indigirka
in
Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary The ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary'' (Russian: Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона, abbr. ЭСБЕ, tr. ; 35 volumes, small; 86 volumes, large) is a comprehensive multi-volume ...
is the arm one located on the western side, i.e. the "Russian side" of the delta (meaning, the side closest to the (European) Russia). These days the name of the ''Russko-Ustyinskaya Protoka'' appears as if it were formed from the name of the old Russian village Russkoye Ustye situated there, but originally the opposite is likely to have been the case, the village is named after the river arm (the ''Russkoye Ustye'') on which it was located. Several flat islands are formed by the channels of the delta. Listed from the east to the west, the major ones are: * Usun-Ary lies longitudinally along the coast east of the Srednyaya mouth. It is and wide. * Uparovskiy Island lies completely detached offshore from the Srednyaya mouth. It is about long and 1 km wide. * Ploskiy Island is the farthest offshore of a cluster of islands at the Srednyaya mouth. It is C-shaped and about 3  km long. * Bolshoy Fedorovskiy lies between the two mouths of the Indigirka. It is 6 km long and has a maximum width of 4 km. * Vkodnoy and Oleniy islands lie right at the Prot. Russko Ust'inskaya mouth . Both are of similar size, about 4 km in length. * Krestovyy Island lies quiet isolated directly to the south of the Lopatka Peninsula, offshore to the northwest of the main Indigirka mouths. It is 6 km long and 1.6 km wide.


See also

* Cave lion cubs Boris and Sparta, found on the banks of the Tirekhtyakh tributary *
List of rivers of Russia Russia can be divided into a European and an Asian part. The dividing line is generally considered to be the Ural Mountains. The European part is drained into the Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea. The Asian part is draine ...
* Yana-Oymyakon Highlands§Hydrography


References


External links

*
Location of islands
*
William Barr William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump. Born and raised in New York City, Barr ...
, Baron Eduard Von Toll's Last Expedition. Arctic, Sept 1980. {{Authority control Rivers of the Sakha Republic East Siberian Lowland