The Arga-Sala (russian: Арга-Сала; sah, Арҕаа Салаа) is a river in
Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...
(Sakha Republic) and
Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It is the largest
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
Olenyok Olenyok or Olenek may refer to:
*Olenyok (river), a river in Russia
*Olenyok (rural locality), a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia
* Olenyok Airport, an airport in the same rural locality
* Olenyok Gulf, a gulf in the Laptev ...
with a length of . Its drainage basin area is .
The river basin is a lonely, desolate area devoid of settlements.
[Water of Russia - Арга-Сала](_blank)
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The name of the river comes from the Yakut language
Yakut , also known as Yakutian, Sakha, Saqa or Saxa ( sah, саха тыла), is a Turkic language spoken by around 450,000 native speakers, primarily the ethnic Yakuts and one of the official languages of Sakha (Yakutia), a federal republic ...
''"argaa/salaa"'' (Арҕаа/Салаа), meaning "western tributary".
Course
The Arga-Sala is a left tributary of the Olenyok. Its sources are in the northeastern slopes of the Bukochan Range, Central Siberian Plateau
The Central Siberian Plateau (russian: Среднесибирское плоскогорье, Srednesibirskoye ploskogorye; sah, Орто Сибиир хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Grea ...
, in the Evenkiysky District
Evenkiysky District (russian: Эвенки́йский райо́н), or Evenkia (russian: Эвенкия),According to Article 2.4 of the Charter of Evenkiysky Municipal District, the names "Evenkiysky Municipal District" and "Evenkia" have e ...
of Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is formed at the confluence of the long Left Arga-Sala and long Right Arga-Sala. The Arga-Sala flows roughly eastwards with rapids
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''. ...
and riffle
A riffle is a shallow landform in a flowing channel. Colloquially, it is a shallow place in a river where water flows quickly past rocks. However, in geology a riffle has specific characteristics.
Topographic, sedimentary and hydraulic indica ...
s in numerous stretches. It flows then across a floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
with small lakes, changing direction with southeastward and northeastward bends, but still within a generally eastward trend. Finally it joins the left bank of the Olenyok Olenyok or Olenek may refer to:
*Olenyok (river), a river in Russia
*Olenyok (rural locality), a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia
* Olenyok Airport, an airport in the same rural locality
* Olenyok Gulf, a gulf in the Laptev ...
river upstream of Olenyok Olenyok or Olenek may refer to:
*Olenyok (river), a river in Russia
*Olenyok (rural locality), a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia
* Olenyok Airport, an airport in the same rural locality
* Olenyok Gulf, a gulf in the Laptev ...
village, Olenyoksky District
Olenyoksky District (russian: Оленёкский улу́с; sah, Өлөөн улууһа, ''Ölöön uluuha'', ), or Olenyoksky-Evenki National District, is an administrativeConstitution of the Sakha Republic and municipalLaw #172-Z #351-III di ...
, one of the few inhabited localities of the area.Google Earth
Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
[Арга-Сала](_blank)
/ ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
:'' in 30 vols. / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov
Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov (born Alexander Michael Prochoroff, russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Про́хоров; 11 July 1916 – 8 January 2002) was an Australian-born Soviet-Russian physicist known ...
. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978 The Arga-Sala is frozen between October and May.
Tributaries
Its main tributaries are the long Kengeede
The Kengeede (russian: Кэнгээдэ; sah, Күҥгэдэ), also spelled as ''Kengede'', ''Kengyade'' or ''Kende'', is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic) and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is the second longest tributary of the Arga-Sala, of t ...
(Кэнгээдэ), the long Kyuyonelekeen
The Kyuyonelekeen (russian: Кюёнэлэкээн; sah, Күөнэлэкээн), also spelled as ''Kyuyonelekyan'' and ''Kyuenelekyan'', is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic) and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is the third longest tributary of ...
(Кюёнэлэкээн) and the long Kukusunda
The Kukusunda (russian: Кукусунда; sah, Кукуһунда) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic) and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is the longest tributary of the Arga-Sala, of the Olenyok basin, and has a length of and a drainage b ...
from the left, as well as the long Kyuyonelikeen
The Kyuyonelikeen (russian: Кюёнэликээн; sah, Күөнэликээн), also spelled as ''Kyuenelikyan'', is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic) and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is the fourth longest tributary of the Arga-Sala, of the ...
(Кюёнэликээн) from the right.
Flora and fauna
The river flows north of the Arctic circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...
across a lightly-wooded 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, spruce ...
zone. The most common trees are larch
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
es.
Taimen
Siberian taimen (''Hucho taimen''), also known as the common taimen (russian: Обыкнове́нный тайме́нь, Obyknovénnyĭ taĭménʹ), Siberian giant trout or Siberian salmon, is a species of salmon-like ray-finned fish from the ...
, lenok
Lenoks, otherwise known as Asiatic trout or Manchurian trout,James Card: Fly fishing in South Korea.' Retrieved 22 June 2015. are salmonid fish of the genus ''Brachymystax'', native to rivers and lakes in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, wider Siberia (incl ...
, whitefish, grayling and pike
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to:
Fish
* Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus''
* Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes
* ''Esox'', genus of ...
are the main fish species found in the waters of the Arga-Sala.
See also
*List of rivers of Russia
Russia can be divided into a European and an Asian part. The dividing line is generally considered to be the Ural Mountains. The European part is drained into the Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea. The Asian part is drained into ...
References
External links
Fishing & Tourism in Yakutia
{{Portal bar, Russia
Rivers of Krasnoyarsk Krai
Rivers of the Sakha Republic
Tributaries of the Olenyok
Central Siberian Plateau