The Kara () is a river draining to the Arctic

Kara Sea The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all ...

in Russia. It flows through the Pai-Khoi Range in the Polar Ural region, and forms parts of the borders between the

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (; ) also known as Yamalia () is a federal subject of Russia and an autonomous okrug of Tyumen Oblast. Its administrative center is the town of Salekhard, and its largest city is Novy Urengoy. The 2021 Russian ...

, the

Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Nenets Autonomous Okrug (; ) also known as Nenetsia ( ) is a federal subject of Russia and an autonomous okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast. Its administrative center is the town of Naryan-Mar. It has an area of and a population of 42,090 ...

and the

Komi Republic The Komi Republic (; ), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the northeast of European Russia. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Syktyvka ...

. The length of the river, from the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the Malaya and Bolshaya Kara to the mouth in the Baydaratskaya Bay is . Its

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, ...

area is . The settlement of Ust-Kara is near the river mouth. The name of the river is derived from

Nenets The Nenets (; ), in the past also called 'Samoyeds' or 'Yuraks', are a Samoyedic ethnic group native to Arctic Russia, Russian Far North. According to the latest census in 2021, there were 49,646 Nenets in the Russian Federation, most of them l ...

word meaning " hummocked ice".V.Yu. Vize, ''Karskoye more // Morya Sovetskoy Arktiki: Ocherki po istorii issledovaniya'' (Leningrad, 1939) — pp. 180—217

References

Rivers of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Rivers of Nenets Autonomous Okrug Rivers of the Komi Republic Drainage basins of the Kara Sea {{Siberia-river-stub