The Ilim (russian: Илим) is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...
in
Irkutsk Oblast
Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and ...
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-eigh ...
, a right tributary of the
Angara
The Angara ( Buryat and mn, Ангар, ''Angar'', "Cleft"; russian: Ангара́, ''Angará'') is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is ...
. It flows north between and parallel to the rivers Angara and
Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
, and then swings west to join the Angara south of
Ust-Ilimsk
Ust-Ilimsk ( rus, Усть-Илимск, p=usʲtʲ ɪˈlʲimsk) is a town in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Angara River. Population: 53,000 (1977).
History
An '' ostrog'' (fortress) was built on the present site of the town in the 1 ...
.
Geography
The
Ust-Ilimsk Dam
The Ust-Ilimsk Hydroelectric Power Station (Ust-Ilimsk HPS) is a concrete gravity dam on the Angara River and adjacent hydroelectric power station. It is located near Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk Oblast in Russia and is the third dam on the Angara cascade ...
on the Angara (downstream from the older, bigger, and better known
Bratsk Dam
The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station (also referred to as The ''50 years of Great October'' Dam) is a concrete gravity dam on the Angara River and adjacent hydroelectric power station. It is the second level of the Angara River hydroelectric s ...
), completed in the mid-1970s, not only backs up the Angara, but also the Ilim as far as
Zheleznogorsk-Ilimsky
Zheleznogorsk-Ilimsky ( rus, Железногорск-Илимский, p=ʐɪlʲɪznɐˈgorsk ɪˈlʲimskʲɪj) is a town and the administrative center of Nizhneilimsky District of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located north of Irkutsk, the administ ...
. The site of the old town of
Ilimsk
Ilimsk (russian: link=no, Илимск) was a small town in Siberia, within today's Irkutsk Oblast of Russia. The town was flooded by the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir in the mid-1970s.
Ilimsk was founded in 1630 on the Ilim River, a tributary of the ...
was flooded by the reservoir.
The Ilim is long, and its
basin covers .
The river freezes up in late October and stays icebound until early May. Its main tributaries are the Kochenga and the Tuba from the right, and the Chora from the left.
Илим
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 ...
See also
*Siberian River Routes
Siberian River Routes were the main ways of communication in Russian Siberia before the 1730s, when roads began to be built. The rivers were also of primary importance in the process of Russian conquest and exploration of vast Siberian territorie ...
References
Rivers of Irkutsk Oblast
{{Russia-river-stub