The Chirkuo () is a river in
Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...
(
Sakha Republic
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...
),
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. It is a right hand tributary of the
Vilyuy
The Vilyuy ( rus, Вилю́й, p=vʲɪˈlʲʉj; , ''Bülüü'', ) is a river in Russia, the longest tributary of the Lena (river), Lena. About long, it flows mostly within the Sakha Republic. Its basin covers about .
History
The river is first ...
, and is long — including the Duikhta at its head, with a
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
of .
In the Ust-Chirkuo Site () there are remains of ancient settlements by the river. Currently there are no permanent inhabited places in the river area.
Course
The Chirkuo lies in the upper stretch of the Vilyuy basin. It begins at the confluence of the Duikhta and the Kucchuchi-Chuurka (Куччучи-Чуурка) in the
Vilyuy Plateau
The Vilyuy Plateau () is a mountain plateau in Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Siberia, Russia. It is a part of the Central Siberian Plateau and it is made up mainly of the upper course section of the Vilyuy River.
Permafrost ...
. The river flows roughly northwards across the plateau along the border with
Irkutsk Oblast
Irkutsk Oblast (; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara River, Angara, Lena River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is ...
to the west. Finally it meets the right bank of the Vilyuy from its mouth in the Lena. The river freezes between mid October and late May.
The main tributaries of the Chirkuo are the long Golusakh and the long
Dulisma from the left. The last stretch and mouth area of the Chirkuo are part of the backwater of the
Vilyuy Reservoir.
Fauna
The waters of the Chirkuo provide a habitat for the
critically endangered
An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
Siberian sturgeon
The Siberian sturgeon (''Huso baerii'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the Ob, Y ...
.
Sturgeon biodiversity and conservation
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See also
*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 drained i ...
* Vilyuy Dam
References
{{Reflist
External links
Ancient Cultures and Migrations in Northeastern SiberiaSpecies structure, contemporary distribution and status of the Siberian sturgeon ''Acipenser baerii''
Rivers of the Sakha Republic