The Mzymta (; Abkhaz: Мӡы́мҭа; , ''Mezmytha'') is a river in Northwestern

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

, flowing through Mostovsky District and the city of

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

( Adlersky City District) of

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...

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 ...

. The Mzymta is the largest river in Russia emptying into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. It is long with a watershed of . All the venues of the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

were in the Mzymta Valley.

Geography

The source of the Mzymta is in Lake Verkhny Kardyvach in

Western Caucasus The Western Caucasus is a western region of the North Caucasus in Southern Russia, extending from the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus. World Heritage Site The Western Caucasus includes a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site (named Western Caucasus), ...

, at a height of . The upper course of the river is located within the Caucasus Zapovednik. The Mzymta flows in a narrow valley through Lake Kardyvach and forms several waterfalls, the biggest of which is Izumrudny (Emerald), . Downstream of Lake Kardyvach, the river flows west and enters

Sochi National Park Sochi National Park (, also Sochinsky National Park) is Russia's oldest national park, established on May 5, 1983. It is located in the Western Caucasus, near the city of Sochi, in Southern Russia. Topography Sochi National Park covers within t ...

. The banks are covered with

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

forests and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

s, and also ancient Ubykh gardens with wild

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

and chestnut. In Esto-Sadok and Krasnaya Polyana the Mzymta flows through the first urban area, where some of the events of the 2014 Winter Olympics took place. Downstream it turns south. The Mzymta comes through the Akhshtyr and Dzykhra gorges, which are popular tourist attractions. The Mzymta enters the Black Sea in Adler, where the rest of the Winter Olympics took place. At the mouth, there is a big talus train, dividing into branches across the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

s. Mzymta carries out to sea large amounts of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

Mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

s are also found in the catchment basin. The river is fed by

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s and rain

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. Description A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting ...

s. The Mzymta is a floatable river, and the popular attraction is

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

. Krasnopolyanskaya hydroelectric power station has a reservoir with a daily streamflow regulation.

Average intensity of flow

Krasnaya Polyana Krasnaya Polyana () meaning "Red Meadow" is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia: Modern localities Amur Oblast As of 2012, one rural locality in Amur Oblast bears this name: * Krasnaya Polyana, Amur Oblast, a '' selo'' in Tomsky R ...

: * Kepsh: (max )

Major inflows

* Pslukh * Pudziko * Chvizhepse

Inhabited localities

Estosadok Estosadok, sometimes spelled Esto-Sadok or Estosadoc ( or ; , lit. ''Little Estonian Garden'') is a rural locality (a '' selo'') under the administrative jurisdiction of Adlersky City District of the City of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, l ...

* Chvizhepse * Kepsha * Monastyr * Galitsyno * Kazachy Brod * Vysokoye * Moldovka * Adler

References

{{Rivers of Russia Rivers of Krasnodar Krai Sochi Tributaries of the Black Sea