The Lena 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 the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

which flow into the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

, the others being Ob and

Yenisey The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

. The Lena River is long and has a capacious

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 ; thus the Lena is the eleventh-longest river in the world and the longest river entirely within

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Geographically,

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

underlies all the Lena River's catchment and it is continuous in over 75 percent of the basin.

Course

The Lena originates at of elevation in the Baikal Mountains, west of

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

, south of the

Central Siberian Plateau The Central Siberian Plateau (; ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Great Russian Regions. Geography The plateau occupies a great part of central Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It is located in the Siberian Plat ...

. The Lena flows north-east and traverses the

Lena-Angara Plateau The Lena-Angara Plateau (), is a plateau in Siberia. Administratively it is in the Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation. The plateau is named after the Lena and Angara rivers, of which it forms the watershed. Rivers on the plateau flow mostly in ...

, then is joined by three tributary rivers: (i) the Kirenga, (ii) the Vitim, and (iii) the Olyokma. From

Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...

, the Lena River enters the Central Yakutian Lowland and flows north until joined by the eastern tributary, the

Aldan River The Aldan ( Sakha and ) is the second-longest right tributary of the Lena in the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia.Vilyuy River. Afterwards, the Lena bends westwards and northwards, flowing between the mountains of the Kharaulakh Range to the east (part of the Verkhoyansk Range) and the mountains of the Chekanovsky Ridge to the west. Travelling approximately due north, the Lena widens into a great

river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...

that merges into the Laptev Sea, a marginal region of the Arctic Ocean, south-west of the New Siberian Islands. The Lena Delta is in area, being traversed by seven main branches, the most important being the Bykovsky channel, farthest east. The Lena is navigable over a length of 3540 kilometres. The annual navigation period, when ice is minimally present or absent, lasts about 70 days in the estuarine region and 125 days elsewhere.

Basin

The area of the Lena River basin is calculated at and the mean annual discharge is 489 cubic kilometers per year.

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

is washed out of the sands of the Vitim and the Olyokma, and

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

tusks have been dug out of the delta. There are numerous lakes in the floodplain of the river. Lakes Nedzheli and

Ulakhan-Kyuel Ulakhan-Kyuel, also spelled as ''Ulakhan-Kyuyel'' or ''Ulakhan-Kyuyol'' (, Улахан Кюель or Улахан-Кюёль; , ''Ulaxan Küöl'') is a lake in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is the largest lake in Zhigansky District. T ...

are the largest in the basin of the Lena.

Tributaries

The Kirenga flows north between the upper Lena River and Lake Baikal. The Vitim drains the area northeast of Lake Baikal. The Olyokma flows north. The Amga makes a long curve southeast and parallel to the Lena and flows into the Aldan. The Aldan also curves roughly parallel to the Lena until it turns east and flows into the Lena north of Yakutsk. The

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

, a tributary of the Aldan, drains an area almost to the Sea of Okhotsk. The T-shaped Chona- Vilyuy system drains most of the area to the west. The main tributaries of the Lena are, from source to mouth: * Tutura (right) * Ilga (left) * Kuta (left) * Tayura (right) * Kirenga (right) * Pilyuda (left) * Chechuy (right) * Ichera (left) * Chaya (right) * Chuya (right) * Vitim (right) * Peleduy (left) * Nyuya (left) *

Derba The Derba (), also known as Derbe (; , ''Cerbe'') or Dzherba (), is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a tributary of the Lena with a length of — counting the Mas-Turukhtaakh at its head— and a drainage basin area of . Th ...

(left) * Ura (left) * Bolshoy Patom (right) * Cherendey (left) * Biryuk (left) * Olyokma (right) ** Chara * Markha (left) * Markhachan (left) * Tuolba (right) * Sinyaya (left) * Buotama (right) * Menda (right) * Myla (right) *

Tamma The Tamma (; ) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a tributary of the Lena with a length of and a drainage basin area of . The Tamma is the largest river of Megino-Kangalassky District. The villages of Darkylakh and Khapt ...

(right) * Lyutenge (right) * Suola (right) * Aldan (right) * Batamay (right) * Belyanka (right) ** Munni * Lyapiske (right) * Tympylykan (left) * Dyanyshka (right) * Tyugyuene (left) * Sitte (left) * Khanchaly (left) * Kenkeme (left) * Lungkha (left) * Namana (left) * Vilyuy (left) ** Chona * Linde (left) * Undyulyung (right) * Nuora (left) * Begidyan (right) * Khoruongka (left) * Sobolokh-Mayan (right) * Kyuelenke (left) * Muna (left) *

Menkere The Menkere (; , ''Meŋkere'') is a river in Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is one of the major tributaries of the Lena. The river has a length of — together with the Syncha— and a drainage basin area of . The Menkere flows across de ...

(right) * Motorchuna (left) * Molodo (left) ** Syungyude * Natara (right) * Uel-Siktyakh (right) * Kuranakh-Siktyakh (right) * Byosyuke (right) * Tikyan (right) *

Eyekit The Eyekit (, ) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is a left tributary of the Lena (river), Lena. Its length is from the sources of the Buor Eyekit. The area of its basin including the latter is . The Eyekit flows across the ...

(left) * Bulkur (left)

History

It is commonly believed that the Lena derives its name from the original Even-Evenk name ''Elyu-Ene'', which means "the Large River". Parokhod na Lene

According to folktales related a century later, in the years 1620–1623 a party of Russian fur hunters under the leadership of Demid Pyanda sailed up Nizhnyaya Tunguska, discovered the Lena, and either carried their boats there or built new ones. In 1623 Pyanda explored some of the river from its upper reaches to the central

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...

. In 1628 Vasily Bugor and 10 men reached the Lena, collected ' yasak' (tribute) from the 'natives' and then founded

Kirinsk Kirensk ( rus, Киренск, p=ˈkʲirʲɪnsk) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Kirensky District in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kirenga River, Kirenga and Lena Ri ...

in 1632. In 1631 the '' voyevoda'' of Yeniseysk sent Pyotr Beketov and 20 men to construct a fortress at

(founded in 1632). From Yakutsk other expeditions spread out to the south and east. The Lena delta was reached in 1655. Two of the three groups of survivors of the ill-fated Jeannette expedition reached Lena Delta in September, 1881. The one led by engineer George W. Melville was rescued by native Tungus huntsmen. Of the group led by Captain George W. De Long, only two of the men survived; the others died of

starvation Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, de ...

. Baron Eduard Von Toll, accompanied by

Alexander von Bunge Alexander Georg von Bunge (; – ) was a Russian botanist. He is best remembered for scientific expeditions into Asia and especially Siberia. Early life and education Bunge was born under the name Alexander Andreevič von Bunge on in Kyiv as ...

, led an expedition that explored the Lena delta and the islands of New Siberia on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1885. In 1886 they investigated the New Siberian Islands and the

Yana River The Yana ( rus, Я́на, p=ˈjanə; ) is a river in Sakha in Russia, located between the Lena to the west and the Indigirka to the east. Course It is long, and its drainage basin covers . Including its longest source river, the Sartang, i ...

and its tributaries. During one year and two days the expedition covered , of which were up rivers, carrying out

geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the locally shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a conn ...

surveys en route. The

Lena massacre The Lena Massacre or Lena Execution () refers to the shooting of goldfield workers on strike in northeast Siberia near the Lena River on . The strike had been provoked by exceptionally harsh working conditions, and when the strike committ ...

was the name given to the 1912 shooting-down of striking goldminers and local citizens who protested at the working conditions in the mine near Bodaybo in northern Irkutsk. The incident was reported in the Duma (parliament) by Kerensky and is credited with stimulating revolutionary feeling in Russia. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, when he was exiled to the

, may have taken his alias, ''Lenin'', from the Lena River.

Delta

At the end of the Lena River there is a large

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

that extends into the Laptev Sea and is about wide. The delta is frozen

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

for about seven months of the year, but in May the region is transformed into a lush

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

for a few months. Part of the area is protected as the Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve. Fyodor Matisen mapped the delta. The Lena Delta divides into a multitude of flat islands. The most important are (from west to east): Chychas Aryta, Petrushka, Sagastyr, Samakh Ary Diyete, Turkan Bel'keydere, Sasyllakh Ary, Kolkhoztakh Bel'keydere, Grigoriy Diyelyakh Bel'kee (Grigoriy Islands), Nerpa Uolun Aryta, Misha Bel'keydere, Atakhtay Bel'kedere, Arangastakh, Urdiuk Pastakh Bel'key, Agys Past' Aryta, Dallalakh Island, Otto Ary, Ullakhan Ary and Orto Ues Aryta. Turukannakh-Kumaga is a long and narrow island off the Lena Delta's western shore. One of the Lena delta islands, Ostrov Amerika-Kuba-Aryta or Ostrov Kuba-Aryta, was named after the island of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

during Soviet times. It is on the northern edge of the delta.

Fish

As Lena is located at remote and undeveloped regions of the Russian Far East, its fish resource is very well preserved. Some of the species found in the river include: Siberian taimen, Siberian sturgeon, Upper Yenisei grayling.

Notes

References

External links

*
Arctic Great Rivers Observatory (ArcticGRO)

NASA Earth Observatory page on flooding on the Lena River

Information and a map of the Lena's watershed

Permafrost in the Lena Delta
* Alfred Wegner institute (AWI) Publications
Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung (Reports on polar and marine research)
- free, downloadable research reports on the biology, geology, oceanography, hydrology, paleontology, paleoclimatology, fauna, flora, soils, cryology, and so forth of the Lena Delta, Laptev Sea, and other parts of the Arctic Circle. {{Authority control Rivers of Irkutsk Oblast Rivers of the Sakha Republic