The Ponoy (russian: Поно́й) 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 ...

on the

Kola Peninsula sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк , image_name= Kola peninsula.png , image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast , image_size= 300px , image_alt= , map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg , map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblast ...

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 ...

. It is 426 km in length. The area of its

basin Basin may refer to: Geography and geology * Depression (geology) ** Back-arc basin, a submarine feature associated with island arcs and subduction zones ** Debris basin, designed to prevent damage from debris flow ** Drainage basin (hydrology), ...

is 15,500 km².

Geography

The Ponoy's source lies in the western end of the Keivy Uplands, 50 km east of Lake Lovozero, in the middle of the

. The river then flows towards the east, threading a winding path through a landscape of hilly and marshy

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces ...

for most of its course. The Ponoy receives several tributaries from the north, the largest being the Acheryok. Like the Ponoy itself, these also has their sources in the Keivy Uplands. Below its confluence with the

Purnach The Purnach is a right tributary to the river Ponoy on the Kola Peninsula, Russia. The Purnach runs to the south of and roughly parallel to the Ponoy. The confluence of the two rivers is 77 km upstream from where the Ponoy flows into the Wh ...

, 77 km from the sea, the river changes character and flows down a steep-sided,

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut ...

-like valley with many

rapid Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade ...

s. It finally flows into the

White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is s ...

at Cape Korabelny, at the eastern end of the Kola Peninsula. The river freezes over in late October to early November, and stays frozen until the first half of May. It is located entirely within the Arctic Circle.

Wildlife and fish

The river is very rich in Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar''). It has become very popular among European fishing tourists, and there are fishing camps along the river.

References

Rivers of Murmansk Oblast Drainage basins of the White Sea {{Russia-river-stub