Indigirka

The Indigirka (; ) is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana to the west and the Kolyma to the east. It is long. The area of its basin is .

History

The isolated village of Russkoye Ustye, located on the delta of the Indigirka, is known for the unique traditional culture of the Russian settlers whose ancestors came there several centuries ago. Some historians have speculated that Russkoye Ustye was settled by Pomors in the early 17th century.

In 1638 explorer Ivan Rebrov reached the Indigirka. In 1636–42 Elisei Buza pioneered the overland route to the Indigirka river system. At about the same time, Poznik Ivanov ascended a tributary of the lower Lena, crossed the Verkhoyansk Range to the upper Yana, and then crossed the Chersky Range to the Indigirka. In 1642 Mikhail Stadukhin reached the Indigirka overland from the Lena.

Zashiversk on the Indigirka was an important colonial outpost during the early days of Russian colonization. It was subsequently abandoned in the 19th century. Other historical settlements, now long abandoned, were Podshiversk and Uyandinskoye Zimov'ye.

In 1892–94 Baron Eduard Von Toll carried out geological surveys in the basin of the Indigirka (among other Far-eastern Siberian rivers) on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences. During one year and two days the expedition covered , of which were up rivers, carrying out geodesic surveys en route.

Course

It originates at the confluence of the long Tuora-Yuryakh (also known as Khastakh, Khalkan or Kalkan) river and the long Taryn-Yuryakh, both of which originate on the slopes of the Khalkan Range.

In its higher course, the river flows northwestwards along the Yana-Oymyakon Highlands, through the lowest part of the Oymyakon Plateau. Turning north, it cuts through several subranges of the Chersky Range. At the point where it crosses the Chemalgin Range the river narrows and flows into a deep gorge, forming rapids.
Where it is joined by the Moma river from the southeast, the Indigirka reaches the Momo-Selennyakh Depression, a wide intermontane basin and the middle course of the river begins, where its valley expands. Turning northwards, the Indigirka cuts deeply across the Moma Range and flows northeastwards meandering across the Aby Lowland and widening to . After flowing between the neck formed by the eastern end of the Polousny Range and the western end of the Ulakhan-Chistay Range, it flows north with the Kondakov Plateau to the east across the Yana-Indigirka Lowland, part of the greater East Siberian Lowland. Further north, where the terrain becomes completely flat, the Indigirka divides into branches from the mouth, forming a wide delta. Its waters end up in the Kolyma Bay, East Siberian Sea. Gusinaya Bay is located to the northwest of the mouths of the Indigirka.Google Earth

The Indigirka freezes up in October and stays under the ice until May–June.

Tributaries

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

* Khastakh (Tuora-Yuryakh) (left)
* Taryn-Yuryakh (right)
* Kuydusun (left)
* Kyuyente (left)
* Elgi (left)
* Nera (right)
* Chibagalakh (left)
*Moma (right)
* Selennyakh (left)
* Druzhina (left)
* Badyarikha (right)
* Uyandina (left)
* Shangina (right)
* Bolshaya Ercha (right)
* Allaikha (left)
* Byoryolyokh (left, into Russko-Ustyinskaya)
* Shandrin (right, into Kolymskaya)

Ports, settlements and economy

Main ports on the river are:
* Khonuu
* Druzhina
* Chokurdakh
* Tabor
There is a gold prospecting industry in the Indigirka basin. Ust-Nera, a gold-mining center, is the largest settlement on the river.

The Indigirka teems with a variety of fishes. Among the most valuable are several whitefish species, such as vendace, chir, muksun, inconnu (''nelma''), omul, etc.

Mouths

The Indigirka forms a large delta, consisting of a number of streams (each one being labeled on Russian maps as a ''photo ka'' ( river arm)) and islands. About before reaching the East Siberian Sea (), the river splits into two major northeast-flowing streams. The left (westernmost) arm is known as the ''Russko-Ustyinskaya Protoka''; the right arm, the ''Srednyaya Protoka'' (Russian for the "Middle Arm"). Further downstream, the third major arm, the ''Kolymskaya Protoka'' splits off the ''Srednyaya Protoka'' as its right (eastern) distributary, thus justifying the "middle" moniker for the Srednyaya Protoka.Indigirka
in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

While ''Srednyaya Protoka'' means the "Middle Arm", the names of the main western and eastern arms indicate their relative location as well. The ''Kolymskaya Protoka'', or ''Kolymskoye Ustye'' is the arm one located on the eastern side, i.e. the "Kolyma side" of the delta (the arm closest to the Kolyma, the eastern neighbor of the Indigirka). The ''Russko-Ustyinskaya Protoka'', apparently known earlier as simply ''Russkoye Ustye'' Indigirka
in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary is the arm one located on the western side, i.e. the "Russian side" of the delta (meaning, the side closest to the (European) Russia). These days the name of the ''Russko-Ustyinskaya Protoka'' appears as if it were formed from the name of the old Russian village Russkoye Ustye situated there, but originally the opposite is likely to have been the case, the village is named after the river arm (the ''Russkoye Ustye'') on which it was located.

Several flat islands are formed by the channels of the delta. Listed from the east to the west, the major ones are:

* Usun-Ary lies longitudinally along the coast east of the Srednyaya mouth. It is and wide.
* Uparovskiy Island lies completely detached offshore from the Srednyaya mouth. It is about long and 1 km wide.
* Ploskiy Island is the farthest offshore of a cluster of islands at the Srednyaya mouth. It is C-shaped and about 3  km long.
* Bolshoy Fedorovskiy lies between the two mouths of the Indigirka. It is 6 km long and has a maximum width of 4 km.
* Vkodnoy and Oleniy islands lie right at the Prot. Russko Ust'inskaya mouth . Both are of similar size, about 4 km in length.
* Krestovyy Island lies quiet isolated directly to the south of the Lopatka Peninsula, offshore to the northwest of the main Indigirka mouths. It is 6 km long and 1.6 km wide.

See also

* Cave lion cubs Boris and Sparta, found on the banks of the Tirekhtyakh tributary
*List of rivers of Russia
* Yana-Oymyakon Highlands§Hydrography

References

External links

*

Location of islands
* William Barr, Baron Eduard Von Toll's Last Expedition. Arctic, Sept 1980.

{{Authority control
Rivers of the Sakha Republic

East Siberian Lowland