Kuban River

The Kuban; Circassian: Псыжъ, ''Psyẑ'' or Псыжь, ''Psyź'' ; abq, Къвбина, ''Q̇vbina'' ; Karachay–Balkar: Къобан, ''Qoban''; Nogai: Кобан, ''Qoban'') is a river in Russia that flows through the Western Caucasus and drains into the Sea of Azov. The Kuban runs mostly through Krasnodar Krai for , but also in the Karachay–Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea.

The Kuban flows north and west from its source near Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains, eventually reaching Temryuk Bay in the Sea of Azov. It is navigable up to Krasnodar. Major cities on the river are Karachayevsk, Cherkessk, Nevinnomyssk, Armavir, Novokubansk, Kropotkin, Ust-Labinsk, Krasnodar and Temryuk. Despite its name, Slavyansk-na-Kubani lies not on the Kuban River, but on its distributary the Protoka.

Geography and hydrology

The river originates on the slopes of Mount Elbrus and forms at the merger of its two tributaries, Ullukam and Uchkulam; from the source of Ullukam to the delta, it has a length of . Between the source and Nevinnomyssk the river flows mostly in the deep and narrow gorge, has many thresholds and rapidly changes its elevation. Near Nevinnomyssk a dam supplies water to the Nevinnomyssk channel. In its central part, until the confluence with the Bolshaya Laba, the Kuban River flows in a wide flat valley with terraced slopes. Then it bends to the west and develops a left-bank floodplain, which is wide near Ust-Labinsk. There it is winding and has many shoals and rapids. Below the mouth of Laba the river widens up to . Between the mouths of the rivers Laba and Afips the Adyghe marshes cover an area of about , and below the river Afips, about is occupied by the Zakubanskie marshes. At from the mouth, the Kuban converges with a major tributary, the Protoka, which is long. Near its mouth the Kuban narrows to and then forms a delta covering about . The delta contains numerous limans, some of which have gradually separated from the river. Until the 19th century the Kuban River discharged into both the Black and the Azov seas. However later, the rising grounds redirected the river entirely to the Azov Sea.Kuban River
Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian)
428: Kuban
, Freshwater Ecoregions of the World

In the upper stream the river is mostly fed by glaciers and high-mountain snow (49%). Near Krasnodar, this contribution drops to 32%; meanwhile, the water supply from the subsoil water increases from 21% to 32%, and that of rainwater from 27% to 32%. The river does not freeze over because of a relatively warm climate and rapid flow in the upper part. The Kuban River is characterized by numerous (6–7 through the year) floods due to rains and thaws, both in the winter and summer. The water level used to fluctuate by up to , with the maximum in July and the minimum in February. The amplitude of these fluctuations was reduced by construction of the Nevinnomyssk channel and the Tschikskoe, Krasnodar and Shapsug reservoirs. These measures also provided water for fish farming and rice fields.

The average discharge of the Kuban River is at its maximum near Krasnodar at about . It was formerly higher by some but was lowered by the reservoir construction. The average discharge near Armavir is , and it formerly varied between before the filling of the Krasnodar Reservoir in the 1980s. The annual outflow to the Azov Sea is about of water, 8 million tonnes of sediments and 4 million tonnes of dissolved salts.

The average turbidity is 682 g/m³. Water salinity increases toward the delta; it normally varies between 50 and 400 mg/L and may reach 1000 mg/L in some areas. All major tributaries flow into the Kuban from the left and originate in the Caucasus Mountains. Those tributaries include the Bolshoy Zelenchuk, Maly Zelenchuk, Urup, Laba, Belaya and Pshish.

The main tributaries of the Kuban are, from source to mouth:

*Teberda (left)
* Maly Zelenchuk (left)
* Bolshoy Zelenchuk (left)
*Urup (left)
* Laba (left)
* Belaya (left)
* Pshish (left)
* Apchas (left)
* Psekups (left)
* Afips (left)

Flora

The river flows through three types of landscape: mixed forests of the Caucasus in the south, Crimean Submediterranean forests in the central part, and steppe in the north. The Caucasus mixed forests are rich in tree species; at mid-elevation, they are dominated by Georgian oak (''Quercus iberica''), hornbeam (''Carpinus caucasica''), sweet chestnut (''Castanea sativa'') and Oriental beech ('' Fagus orientalis''). Higher forests are coniferous and consist of fir (''Abies nordmanniana'') and spruce (''Picea orientalis''). The Crimean Submediterranean forests are also coniferous, dominated by fir and spruce.

The vegetation of the delta mostly consists of thickets of reeds, grassweed, sedges, bur-reed and cattail. Less frequent are tape-grasses, grass rush, arrowhead and other water-hungry plants. The estuaries have rich underwater vegetation in the form of stoneworts algae, pondweed, hornworts, lilies and other species. The total area of such vegetation is . Some estuaries contain thickets of lotus which was brought to the area from Africa.

Fauna

The wide delta of Kuban, with its abundant estuaries, is especially rich in plankton and benthos

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