Great Liakhvi

Liakhvi river basin on the Shida Kartli map

The Great Liakhvi ( ''Didi Liakhvi'' , , ''Styr Lewakhi'') is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in central

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in the de facto independent region of

South Ossetia South Ossetia, officially the Republic of South Ossetia or the State of Alania, is a landlocked country in the South Caucasus with International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, partial diplomatic recognition. It has an offici ...

and flows into the

Kura Kura may refer to: Places * Kura, Iran (disambiguation) * Kura Island, Azerbaijan * Kura, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Kano State * Kura (South Caucasus river), a river in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan * Kura (Russia), a river in Ru ...

(Mtkvari). It is long, and has 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 .Большая Лиахви

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') 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 ''Great Russian Enc ...

The cities of

Tskhinvali Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval (, ; , ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, internationally considered part of Shida Kartli, Georgia (except by Russia and four other UN m ...

and Gori lie along the banks of the Great Liakhvi. The river is mainly fed by the melting snows and glacier runoff of the Caucasus Mountains as well as by underground water sources. The Liakhvi reaches its highest water volume in the spring and summer while the lowest volume is recorded in the winter, when some segments of the river freeze over. The

Little Liakhvi The Little Liakhvi ( ka, პატარა ლიახვი ''p'at'ara liakhvi'') is a river of Georgia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Rivers of Georgia (country) Rivers of South Ossetia Tributaries of the Kura (Caspian Sea) {{SouthOssetia-geo-stub