The Širvinta is a river in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. Stretching for 129 km, it is the longest

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the Šventoji. Its source is in the hinterlands of the Širvintos district. After it passes through the town of Širvintos, where a

low head dam A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

has been built, it continues through the

Ukmergė district Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; pl, Wiłkomierz) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius, with a population of about 20,000. Etymology and variant names The city took its original name ''Vilkmergė'' from th ...

, and borders the Jonava district. It

ends End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: **End (category theory) **End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron football) ...

when it flows into the Šventoji between

Upninkai Upninkai is the largest village in Jonava district, Lithuania. It is situated 8 km southwest of Vepriai on the left bank of the Šventoji River. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 786. History Upninkai was first mentione ...

and

Vepriai Vepriai () is the largest town in Ukmergė district, Lithuania, situated south-west of Ukmergė with population of about 549 (2011). The capital of Vepriai elderate. History Vepriai was founded on a hill near Vepriai Lake and south of Švent ...

. The Širvinta has a rapid flow and winding rocky bed, which is used by kayakers. The Širvinta Landscape

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

, encompassing the river banks and

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

s of the Širvinta, was established in 1992 to protect the channel's unique landscape. Some of the

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

y scarps near Upninkai reach as high as 40 metres. The name of the river is probably derived from the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

or , meaning ''brown''.

References

Rivers of Lithuania {{Lithuania-river-stub