, image = 2000 Charoite 613.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = View of the river and piece of

charoite Charoite is a rare silicate mineral, first described in 1978. It was believed to be named after the Chara River, but due to the river being 70 km away from its discovery place, now it is believed to be named after the Russian word ''chary'', ...

, pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic , pushpin_map_size = , pushpin_map_caption= Location in the

Sakha Republic 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 ...

, Russia , source1_location = Bolshoye Leprindo Lake , source1_coordinates = , source1_elevation = , mouth =

Olyokma , image = Olyokma river.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = View of the river , pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic , pushpin_map_size = , pushpin_map_caption= Location in the Sakha Republic, Ru ...

, mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression =

→ , subdivision_type1 = Country , subdivision_name1 =

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 ...

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 ...

, length = , discharge1_avg = , basin_size = Kodar from charskie peski

The Chara (russian: Ча́ра; sah, Чаара, ''Çaara'') is a left tributary of the

Eastern Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Together with the Olyokma, river Chara gives its name to the

Olyokma-Chara Plateau The Olyokma-Chara Plateau ( rus, Олёкмо-Чарское плоскогорье; sah, Өлүөхүмэ-Чаара хаптал хайалаах сир) is a mountainous area in the Sakha Republic and Irkutsk Oblast, Far Eastern Federal Di ...

(Олёкмо-Чарское плоскогорье), located to the east of its eastern bank.

History

The region is famous for a peculiar mountain where

has been mined for decades. This intensely purple mineral, named after the river, is only found here and was discovered in the 1940s when a rail tunnel was constructed. Part of the Russian governmental debt was paid in charoite and slabs of this now expensive ornamental material were stored in basements of houses of the Hungarian capital city, Budapest.

Course

The Chara begins as an outflow of Bolshoye Leprindo lake in the Kodar Mountains,

Stanovoy Highlands The Stanovoy Highlands ( rus, Станово́е наго́рье) or Stanovoy Uplands is a mountain range in the Transbaikal region of Siberia, Russia. Geography The Stanovoy Highlands are a mountainous area between the Patom Highlands to the n ...

in northern

Zabaykalsky Krai Zabaykalsky Krai ( rus, Забайкальский край, r=Zabaikal'skii krai, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲskʲɪj kraj, lit. "Transbaikal krai"; bua, Yбэр Байгалай хизаар, Uber Baigalai Xizaar) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai) t ...

. It flows through the Chara Basin between the Kodar and

Kalar Mountains The Kalar Range (russian: Каларский хребет, translit=Kalarskiy khrebet) is a mountain range in Zabaykalsky Krai and the NW end of Amur Oblast, Russian Federation. The highest point of the range is high Skalisty Golets. Google Earth ...

, passing the ''Chara Sands'', a area of active sand dunes. It joins the left bank of the Olyokma not far form its mouth in the Lena. The Chara has 103 tributaries over in length. The most important are the Apsat and the

Zhuya The Zhuya (russian: Жуя) is a river in Irkutsk Oblast, East Siberia, Russian Federation. It is the second largest tributary of the Chara river in terms of length and area of its basin. The river is long and has a drainage basin of . The area ...

from the left and the Tokko from the right. The Sen River flows into the left bank of the Chara from the northern end of lake

Nichatka Nichatka (russian: Ничатка; evn, нича) is a fresh water body in the Kalarsky District, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia. The lake has an area of . The name of the lake comes from the Evenki language word for "fish". Nichatka is located to the ...

.Чара (река)

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 ...

References

Stanovoy Highlands Rivers of Buryatia {{Russia-river-stub

History

Course

See also

References