The Iecava 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 ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, in the regions of

Selonia Selonia (; ), also known as Augšzeme (the "Highland"), is one of the Historical Latvian Lands encompassing the eastern part of the historical region of Semigallia () as well as a portion of northeastern Lithuania. Its main city and cultural ce ...

and

Semigallia Semigallia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands located to the south of the Daugava and to the north of the Saule region of Samogitia. The territory is split between Latvia and Lithuania, previously inhabited by the Semigallian Baltic tri ...

. Its

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute ...

is formed from several springs in

Daudzese Parish Daudzese Parish () is an administrative unit of Aizkraukle Municipality, Latvia. From 2009 until 2021 it was part of the former Jaunjelgava Municipality (prior to the 2009 administrative-territorial reforms of Aizkraukle district). As of 2011 ...

Aizkraukle Municipality Aizkraukle Municipality () is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. Its center is the town of Aizkraukle. The municipality was first formed in 2001 by merging Aizkraukle and Aizkraukle Parish. The population in 2020 was 8,024. As a part of the Admin ...

. Its mouth is located 4 km below the town of

Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

on the

Lielupe The Lielupe ( in Latvian language, Latvian Literal translation, literally: ''Large River'', , ) is a river in central Latvia. Its length is (the length would reach if the Mēmele River were counted as part of the Lielupe). The surface area of ...

river. The Iecava flows through Taurkalne and Upmale plains of Middle Latvia lowlands () where its

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s are mainly

wooded A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

. Near the town of

Iecava Iecava () () is a town on the European route E67, via Baltica in Bauska Municipality, in the Semigallia region of southern Latvia. The town has a population of around 9700 people. Iecava lies 40 km south of Riga and 23 km north of Bau ...

it crosses the Zemgale plain and reaches Lielupe river in Tīreļi plain, both also in Middle Latvia lowlands.Latvijas ģeogrāfijas atlants - Latvia geography atlas. "Jāņa sēta", 2020 Administratively, it flows through districts Aizkraukle, Bauska and Jelgava (in borders since 2021). The main water source (more than 50%) for the Iecava is water from melting

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

, whereas water from

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

s is minimal (4-5%); as a result the river is usually in spate in the springs and has low water level in

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

s. To combat the spring flooding, the river has been largely straightened and the bed deepened. A canal was dug 19 km above the old mouth to Lielupe, which drains part of the waters of the Iecava. The rest flows into the Lielupe through the former bed, which is now called Veciecava ("Old Iecava") at this stage. The Iecava has around 400 tributaries (including rivers, streams and ditches), the biggest of them are: Left bank: * Kuma - 6 km * Ģirupe - 12 km * Smārde - 12 km * Ģedulis - 11 km *

Īkstrums The Īkstrums, also Ikstrums, is a river in Semigallia, Latvia. It flows through the parishes of Bauska, Code, Mežotne and Iecava, where it flows into the River Iecava as a left-bank tributary. It begins southwest of Code as the former headwat ...

- 23 km Right bank: * Sudmaļupe - 6 km * Svētupe 6 km * Dzērvīte - 11 km * Briede - 10 km * Vēršupe - 15 km * Smakupe 26 km * Jāņupe - 20 km * Biržiņa - 16 km * Misa - 108 km

References

External links

{{Main tributaries of Lielupe river Rivers of Latvia Aizkraukle Municipality Bauska Municipality Jelgava Municipality Selonia *Main