The Chegitun () is a river located in the
Chukotka Peninsula in Far East Siberia. It is the easternmost river flowing into the
Chukchi Sea
The Chukchi Sea (, ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, ...
from the Siberian side, which makes it the easternmost significant river of the
Eurasian continent. It is long, and has a
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, ...
of .
The name of the river is based in the
Eskimo–Aleut term ''Sahtuk'', meaning 'straightened', which became ''Чегтун'' in the
Chukchi language.
The waters of the river are an important spawning ground for
Arctic char
The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic.
Distribution and habitat
It Spaw ...
,
Taranets char,
Siberian salmon,
Pink salmon,
Chum salmon
The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus ''Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian Arctic ...
,
Sockeye salmon and
Dolly Varden trout are common in its waters.
Geography
The Chegitun flows in a roughly northeastern direction and crosses the
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circl ...
a few miles before it meets the sea in a 500 m wide
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
. Close to its mouth there is the small abandoned village of
Chegitun; the villages of
Inchoun and
Uelen
Uelen is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''village#Russia, selo'') in Chukotsky District, just south of the Arctic Circle in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 C ...
are located not far down the coast.
The Chegitun is frozen from October to June.
This river and its basin belong to the
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka ( ; ), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an Autonomous okrugs of Russia, autonomous okrug situated in the Russian Far East, and shares a border wi ...
administrative region of
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The lower part of the river is included in the
Beringia National Park.
«Beringia National Park»
/ref>
References
External links
Rivers of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Drainage basins of the Chukchi Sea
{{FarEast-Russia-river-stub