Kem (russian: Кемь) is a river in
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 Si ...
,
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 ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
It is a left bank tributary of the
Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
.
The name of the river Kem comes from the ancient word "kem" or "hem" that has a meaning of "great river".
This toponymy is very popular and widespread from Siberia up to
Karelia and
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
.
Course
The river flows across the
West Siberian Plain
The West Siberian Plain (russian: За́падно-Сиби́рская равни́на ''Zapadno-Sibirskaya ravnina'') is a large plain that occupies the western portion of Siberia, between the Ural Mountains in the west and the Yenisei River ...
through the districts of
Bolshemurtinsky,
Kazachinsky,
Pirovsky, and
Yeniseysky District
Yeniseysky District (russian: Енисе́йский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #10-4765 and municipalLaw #13-3140 district (raion), one of the forty-three in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located in the west of the krai and borders w ...
before discharging into the Yenisei River close to the town of
Yeniseysk
Yeniseysk ( rus, Енисейск, p=jɪnʲɪˈsʲejsk) is a town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. Population: 20,000 (1970).
History
Yeniseysk was founded in 1619 as a stockaded town—the first town on the Yenise ...
at 2045 kilometers before the mouth.
The Kem is 356 kilometres (221 miles) long.
Its
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, ...
covers a total area of 8,940 square kilometres (3,452 square miles).
The most important tributaries of the Kem are the Tyya (russian: Тыя) at the 97 kilometer from the mouth and the Belaya (russian: Белая) at the 115 kilometer from the mouth. Both major tributaries are on the left side. The source of the Kem is located in
Bolshemurtinsky District where it rises as a small creek in the
East Siberian taiga
The East Siberian taiga ecoregion, in the Taiga and boreal forests biome, is a very large biogeographic region in eastern Russia.
Setting
This vast ecoregion is located in the heart of Siberia, stretching over 20° of latitude and 50° of longit ...
.
Due to the tributary rivers, towards the mouth river reaches 45 meters of width.
The Kem flows mostly through the
plain
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...
and
vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characte ...
grows directly up to the river shores and water.
The bottom of the river is covered with a lot of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
and sandy-clay and a river water is generally not clear.
The upper reaches of the river flows through the mixed type taiga covered with
conifers (
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 fur ...
,
fir,
spruce,
cedar
Cedar may refer to:
Trees and plants
*''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae
*Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar
Places United States
* Cedar, Arizona
* ...
),
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...
and
aspen
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus.
Species
These species are called aspens:
*'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...
, as well as through the areas that are categorized as a standard
mixed forest
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These fo ...
.
Due to the tributary rivers, towards the mouth the river reaches 45 meters of width.
Protected area
''Kem's Biological Reserve'' is located on the 16 000 hectares of the land that stretched along the banks of the river.
In 1963 the project of restoration of population of
beavers
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...
started here with 20 individuals of this species being brought in the region.
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 drain ...
References
{{Reflist
Rivers of Krasnoyarsk Krai