The Chuya (russian: Чуя), also known as Big Chuya (russian: Большая Чуя, translit=Bolshaya Chuya) in its last stretch, is a river in

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia (russian: Республика Бурятия, r=Respublika Buryatiya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə bʊˈrʲætʲɪjə; bua, Буряад Улас, Buryaad Ulas, , mn, Буриад Улс, Buriad Uls), is ...

and

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...

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 13th longest tributary of the

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

and the 191st longest river in Russia, with a length of and a drainage basin area of . The

Mamsko-Chuysky District Mamsko-Chuysky District (russian: Ма́мско-Чу́йский райо́н) is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Mamsko-Chuysky Municipal ...

of Irkutsk Oblast is named after rivers

Mama Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent * Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places *Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement ...

and Chuya. The district's settlement of

Chuya The Chuya (russian: Чуя; alt, Чуй, ''Çuy'') is a river in the Altai Republic in Russia, a right tributary of the Katun ( Ob's basin). The Chuya is long, and its drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing ...

is located on the right bank of the Lena River at the confluence with the Chuya.Чуя (река в Бурятской АССР и Иркутской обл.)
''

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.(in Russian)Water of Russia - Чуя
/ref>

History

In the 20th century there were

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

mining operations in the upper basin of the Chuya. Gorno-Chuysky was a settlement of workers on the right bank of the river. It had had over 4,000 inhabitants in 1970, but lost population following the

collapse of the USSR The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

and only a residual population remained. Finally it was abolished in 2019. Currently tourists visit the Chuya mainly for angling and

watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

. The main fish species in the river are

dace A dace is a small fish that can be one of many different species. The unmodified name is usually a reference to the common dace (''Leuciscus leuciscus''). This, like most fish called "daces", belongs to the family Cyprinidae, mostly in subfamily ...

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

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 ...

Course

The Chuya is a right

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 Lena, its 13th longest tributary. It has its sources in a small mountain lake of the Synnyr Massif of the

North Baikal Highlands The North Baikal Highlands ( rus, Северо-Байкальское нагорье; bua, Хойто-Байгалай хадалиг газар)

and flows in a roughly NNE direction across the highland area within the North Baikal District of Buryatia. Its channel is very stony and often divides into branches, with

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

s growing in the banks and in the islands. As it flows roughly northwards past the confluence of its Tukulakh tributary there is a long, tumultuous stretch 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 cascades. Downstream from the Gorno-Chuysky

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

zone the river proceeds along a narrow valley with

riffles 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 ...

in the current. Further north there is another area of strong rapids. After it leaves the mountain area the Chuya river slows down, the river channel widens and it is joined by the Malaya Chuya on its left bank. In its last stretch the Chuya flows northwards 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 ...

as the ''Bolshaya Chuya''.северное забайкалье р. л. мама - р. б. чуя
/ref> Finally the Chuya meets the right bank of the Lena by

village, at the border of 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 ...

(Yakutia), from its mouth. The town of

Vitim Vitim (russian: Витим) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities *Vitim, Sakha Republic, an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Lensky District of the Sakha Republic * Vitim, Republic of Buryatia, a ...

lies just a few miles downstream from the confluence.

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 ...

The largest tributary of the Chuya is the long Malaya Chuya (Small Chuya) that joins it from the left and has a drainage basin area of . The river freezes between October and May.

Permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

is distributed in the river basin in an uneven, discontinuous pattern.

References

External links

Иркутские взрывотехники устранили ледовый затор на реке Большая Чуя
(removing ice with explosives)
Идем на пороги. Горные реки Восточной Сибири
(Mountain rivers of Eastern Siberia)
Pictures - Baikal Nature
{{Portal bar, Russia Rivers of Buryatia Rivers of Irkutsk Oblast

History

Course

See also

References

External links