HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Kuban is a river in
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 ...
that flows through the
Western Caucasus The Western Caucasus is a western region of the North Caucasus in Southern Russia, extending from the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus. World Heritage Site The Western Caucasus includes a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site (named Western Caucasus), ...
and drains into the
Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...
. The Kuban runs mostly through
Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...
for , but also in the Karachay–Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea. The Kuban flows north and west from its source near
Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus; ; is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant stratovolcano rising above sea level, and is the highest volcano in Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world. It is situated in the south ...
in the
Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...
, eventually reaching Temryuk Bay in the
Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...
. It is navigable up to
Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...
. Major cities on the river are Karachayevsk, Cherkessk, Nevinnomyssk, Armavir, Novokubansk, Kropotkin, Ust-Labinsk,
Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...
and Temryuk. Despite its name,
Slavyansk-on-Kuban Slavyansk-on-Kuban () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located in the Kuban River river delta, delta. Population: 56,000 (1975). History Slavyansk originated in the Middle Ages as ''Copa'' or ''Cop ...
lies not on the Kuban River, but on its
distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurc ...
the Protoka.


Geography and hydrology

The river originates on the slopes of
Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus; ; is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant stratovolcano rising above sea level, and is the highest volcano in Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world. It is situated in the south ...
and forms at the merger of its two tributaries, the Ullukam and Uchkulam; from the source of the Ullukam to the delta, it has a length of . Between the source and Nevinnomyssk the river flows mostly in the deep and narrow
gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...
, has many thresholds and rapidly changes its elevation. Near Nevinnomyssk a dam supplies water to the Nevinnomyssk channel. In its central part, until the confluence with the Bolshaya Laba, the Kuban River flows in a wide flat valley with terraced slopes. Then it bends to the west and develops a left-bank floodplain, which is wide near Ust-Labinsk. There it is winding and has many shoals and rapids. Below the mouth of Laba the river widens up to . Between the mouths of the rivers Laba and Afips the Adyghe marshes cover an area of about , and below the river Afips, about is occupied by the Zakubanskie marshes. At from the mouth, the Kuban converges with a major tributary, the Protoka, which is long. Near its mouth the Kuban narrows to and then forms a delta covering about . The delta contains numerous limans, some of which have gradually separated from the river. Until the 19th century the Kuban River discharged into both the Black and the Azov seas. However later, the rising grounds redirected the river entirely to the Azov Sea.Kuban River
Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') 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 ''Great Russian Enc ...
(in Russian)
428: Kuban
, Freshwater Ecoregions of the World
In the upper stream the river is mostly fed by glaciers and high-mountain snow (49%). Near Krasnodar, this contribution drops to 32%; meanwhile, the water supply from the subsoil water increases from 21% to 32%, and that of rainwater from 27% to 32%. The river does not freeze over because of a relatively warm climate and rapid flow in the upper part. The Kuban River is characterized by numerous (6–7 through the year) floods due to rains and thaws, both in the winter and summer. The water level used to fluctuate by up to , with the maximum in July and the minimum in February. The amplitude of these fluctuations was reduced by construction of the Nevinnomyssk channel and the Tschikskoe, Krasnodar and Shapsug reservoirs. These measures also provided water for
fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...
and rice fields. The average discharge of the Kuban River is at its maximum near
Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...
at about . It was formerly higher by some but was lowered by the reservoir construction. The average discharge near Armavir is , and it formerly varied between before the filling of the Krasnodar Reservoir in the 1980s. The annual outflow to the Azov Sea is about of water, 8 million tonnes of sediments and 4 million tonnes of dissolved salts. The average turbidity is 682 g/m3. Water salinity increases toward the delta; it normally varies between 50 and 400 mg/L and may reach 1000 mg/L in some areas. All major tributaries flow into the Kuban from the left and originate in the
Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...
. Those tributaries include the Bolshoy Zelenchuk, Maly Zelenchuk, Urup, Laba, Belaya and Pshish. The main tributaries of the Kuban are, from source to mouth: * Teberda (left) * Maly Zelenchuk (left) * Bolshoy Zelenchuk (left) * Urup (left) * Laba (left) * Belaya (left) * Pshish (left) * Apchas (left) * Psekups (left) * Afips (left)


Flora

The river flows through three types of landscape: mixed forests of the Caucasus in the south, Crimean Submediterranean forests in the central part, and
steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...
in the north. The
Caucasus mixed forests The Caucasus mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the Caucasus Mountains, as well as the adjacent Lesser Caucasus range and the eastern end of the Pontic Mountains. Geography The ecoregion covers an area of ...
are rich in tree species; at mid-elevation, they are dominated by Georgian oak (''Quercus iberica''),
hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the family Betulaceae. Its species occur across much of the temperateness, temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Common names The common English name ''hornbeam'' derives ...
(''Carpinus caucasica''), sweet chestnut (''
Castanea sativa The sweet chestnut (''Castanea sativa''), also known as the Spanish chestnut or European chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the Temperate climate, te ...
'') and Oriental beech (''
Fagus orientalis ''Fagus orientalis'', commonly known as the Oriental beech, is a deciduous tree in the beech family Fagaceae. It is native to Eurasia, in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Description ''Fagus orientalis'' is a large tree, capable of reaching he ...
''). Higher forests are coniferous and consist of fir ('' Abies nordmanniana'') and spruce ('' Picea orientalis''). The Crimean Submediterranean forests are also coniferous, dominated by fir and spruce. The vegetation of the delta mostly consists of thickets of reeds, grassweed, sedges, bur-reed and cattail. Less frequent are tape-grasses, grass rush,
arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...
and other water-hungry plants. The estuaries have rich underwater vegetation in the form of stoneworts algae, pondweed,
hornworts Hornworts are a group of Non-vascular plant, non-vascular Embryophytes (land plants) constituting the division Anthocerotophyta (). The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. As in mosses and liverworts ...
, lilies and other species. The total area of such vegetation is . Some estuaries contain thickets of lotus which was brought to the area from Africa.


Fauna

The wide delta of Kuban, with its abundant estuaries, is especially rich in
plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...
and benthos. There are about 400 species of zooplankton, including
rotifer The rotifers (, from Latin 'wheel' and 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera ) of microscopic and near-microscopic Coelom#Pseudocoelomates, pseudocoelomate animals. They were first describ ...
s,
copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...
s, cladocerans, mollusks, worms, etc., providing abundant food for fish. The fish fauna of the Kuban differs from that of the nearby Don and
Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
rivers and contains more than 65 species from 16 families. They are dominated by the genera '' Gobio'', '' Romanogobio'', ''
Squalius ''Squalius'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family (biology), family Leuciscidae, the daces, Eurasian minnows and reklated fishes. The fishies in this genus are found in Europe and Asia. Hybrid (biology), Hybridization ...
'' and '' Chondrostoma'' and contain species and genera such as carp, Prussian carp, roach, bream, silver bream, pike, perch, ruffe, '' Chalcalburnus'', ''
Sprattus ''Sprattus'' is a genus of small oily fish of the family Clupeidae. They are more usually known by their common name, sprats. There are five species in the genus. Species * '' Sprattus antipodum'' (Hector, 1872) (New Zealand blueback sprat ...
'', '' Mugil'' and others. Some species such as silver carp and grass carp were acclimatized in the last decade. Endemic species include the Kuban barbel (''Barbus kubanicus''), ''Gobio kubanicus'', Little Kuban gudgeon (''Romanogobio parvus''), Kuban long-barbelled gudgeon (''R. pentatrichus''), Kuban nase (''Chondrostoma kubanicum''), ''Sabanejewia kubanica'', ''Oxynoemacheilus merga'' and Aphips chub. Kuban barbel and Kuban nase are the only species of their genera within the Kuban basin. They prefer mountainous streams with a rapid flow and sandy or rocky bottom on which they spawn. After the construction of the Krasnodar Dam in the 1980s, the Kuban barbel became rare in the lower Kuban. On the contrary, Kuban nase moves downstream to lower sections or larger tributaries in winter. It is rather sensitive to the water quality, especially turbidity. Its population also declined after the construction of the Krasnodar Dam, but is still large in the middle and upper parts of the Kuban and its tributaries. The Kuban gudgeon and Little Kuban gudgeon are restricted to the sections with moderately fast flow and gravel or sandy bottoms; they are abundant in the middle part of the river. The Kuban gudgeon is unusual by having five anal branched rays. Aphips chub (''Squalius aphipsi'') occurs in southern tributaries of Kuban and is hiding in small pools in the summer. It spawns in rapid streams deep with a pebble or rocky bottom. It does not migrate much, but it moves downstream in winter to find deeper pools and returns upstream in summer. This species is abundant throughout the whole river. Before the construction of dams, the River had migratory stocks of sturgeons ('' Acipenser gueldenstaedtii'', '' A. stellatus'', '' Huso huso'') and cyprinids ('' Alburnus mento'', '' Vimba vimba''). These species have low presence nowadays. The delta of the Kuban River and its estuaries are a popular resting ground for various migratory birds, especially waterfowl such as wild geese, ducks, cormorants, pelicans, swans and gray herons. Also abundant are birds of prey, such as falcons, as well as foxes and wild cats. Muskrats were brought to the watershed in the 20th century for commercial fur production.


Geological history

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Azov Sea was much larger and covered the delta of the Kuban River. Deposition of silt by the Kuban gradually pushed out the sea and shaped the delta with numerous limans and shallow estuaries. Frequent eruptions of the
mud volcano A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or Slurry, slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true Igneous rock, igneous volcanoes as th ...
es contributed to this deposition process. There are about 25 mud volcanoes in the area and some are still active.Kuban - the major river of the region
(in Russian)


Human activities

The
ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...
called the river ''Hypanis''. Kuban River gave its name to the
Kuban Cossacks Kuban Cossacks (; ), or Kubanians (, ''kubantsy''; , ''kubantsi''), are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are descendants of different major groups of Cossacks who were re-settled to the western Norther ...
who settled in its basin in the 18th–19th centuries. During the
Russian conquest of the Caucasus The Russian conquest of the Caucasus mainly occurred between 1800 and 1864. The Russian Empire sought to control the region between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. South of the mountains was the territory that is modern Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georg ...
it was part of the North Caucasus Line. The delta of Kuban is an important rice-growing region of Russia. Also developed here is fishery with the major commercial species including perch, roach and chalcalburnus. The river is navigated up to Krasnodar where it feeds the Krasnodar Thermal Power Plant.


Notes


References


External links

* {{Authority control Rivers of Adygea Rivers of Karachay-Cherkessia Rivers of Krasnodar Krai Rivers of Stavropol Krai Bodies of water of the Sea of Azov Kuban Ramsar sites in Russia