The Markhachan (russian: Мархачан) is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
of
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
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 ...
, a 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 ...
. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .
The river flows across sparse
larch taiga
Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...
in an uninhabited area of
Olyokminsky District
Olyokminsky District (russian: Олёкминский улу́с; sah, Өлүөхүмэ улууһа, ''Ölüökhüme uluuha'') is an administrativeConstitution of the Sakha Republic and municipalLaw #172-Z #351-III district (raion, or ''ulus''), ...
. In the
International scale of river difficulty the Markhachan is a Class III destination for
rafting and
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
.
Course
The Markhachan has its source in a
thermokarst
Thermokarst is a type of terrain characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws. The land surface type occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as ...
area of the
Lena Plateau, near the sources of the
Chyna
Chyna (born Joan Marie Laurer; December 27, 1969 – April 17, 2016) was an American professional wrestler, bodybuilder and television personality.
She first rose to prominence in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1997, where sh ...
. The river heads mainly southwards along its course, parallel to the
Markha in the west. In its last stretch it meanders strongly in the
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 ...
. Finally it joins the left bank of the Lena from its mouth. The Markhachan freezes in the second half of October and stays under ice until the middle of May. There are about 200 small lakes in its basin.
[Nature.ykt](_blank)
/ref>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 ...
Tributaries
The largest tributaries of the Markhachan are the long Somogo from the left, and the long Magany-Yurekh (Маганы-Юрэх) and the long Ulakhan-Egeleekh (Улахан-Эгэлээх) from the right.[
]
Fauna
Grayling
Grayling or Greyling may refer to:
Animals Fish
* Grayling, generically, any fish of the genus ''Thymallus'' in the family Salmonidae
** European grayling (''Thymallus thymallus''), the European species of the genus ''Thymallus''
** Arctic grayli ...
and lenok are some of the main fish species found in the river.[
]
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 drained into ...
References
External links
*{{commonscat inline
Fishing & Tourism in Yakutia
Rivers of the Sakha Republic