The Bolshoy Uzen (russian: Большой Узень, lit=Big Uzen) or Ulken Uzen ( kk, Үлкен Өзен, lit=Big River ''Úlken Ózen or'' ) is a river in
Saratov Oblast
Saratov Oblast (russian: Сара́товская о́бласть, ''Saratovskaya oblast'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of ...
of
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 ...
and
West Kazakhstan Province
West Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Батыс Қазақстан облысы, translit=Batys Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Западно-Казахстанская область, translit=Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. The re ...
of
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. It is long, with a
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where 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, t ...
of .
Узень Большой и Малый
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 ...
The Bolshoy Uzen has its sources on the western edge of the Obshchy Syrt Obshchy Syrt (russian: Общий Сырт) is a highland ridge, or plateau (''syrt''), in the European part of Russia. It starts north of Orenburg as a branch of the Ural Mountains and runs in a southwesterly direction to the east bank of the Volga ...
highlands of Russia, and flows in a generally southerly direction over the steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, ...
s of the Caspian Depression. It terminates in West-Kazakhstan, in a network of small lakes and swamps called the Kamysh-Samarskiye Lakes. The Bolshoy Uzen runs parallel to the Maly Uzen River
Maly Uzen (russian: Малый Узень) or Kishi Uzen ( kk, Кіші Өзен, ''Kishi Ózen;'' tt-Cyrl, Кесе Үҙән), known as the Saryozen in Kazakhstan, is a river in Saratov Oblast of Russia and West Kazakhstan Province of Kazakhstan. ...
, some further west.
Most of the river's waters comes from snowmelt
In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many part ...
, so the river's flow peaks in April, while in the summer parts of the river will dry up completely. At Novouzensk the discharge varies from . The river freezes over in December and stays icebound to the end of March or the beginning of April.
The town of Novouzensk
Novouzensk ( rus, Новоузе́нск, p=nəvəʊˈzʲɛnsk) is a town and the administrative center of Novouzensky District of Saratov Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Bolshoy Uzen River at its confluence with the Chertanly R ...
is situated at the Bolshoy Uzen. The river is used for water supply and irrigation.
References
{{coord, 48.9006, N, 49.9122, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Rivers of Saratov Oblast
Rivers of Kazakhstan