Mzymta (, , lit. 'the place (-ҭа) of the river Мӡым", , ''Mezmytha'') is a river in

Western Caucasus The Western Caucasus is a western region of the 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 comprising the extreme western e ...

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 ...

, flowing through

Mostovsky District Mostovsky District (russian: Мостовский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the thirty-eight in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.Reference Information #34.01-707/13-03 As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Mostovs ...

and the city of

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

(

Adlersky City District Adlersky City District (russian: А́длерский райо́н) is the southernmost of four city districts of the city of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, lying along the Black Sea coast near the southern Russian border with Georgia. The city ...

) of

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of t ...

, Russia. Mzymta is the largest river in Russia emptying into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. It is long with a watershed of . All the venues of the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

were in the Mzymta Valley.

Geography

The source of the Mzymta is in Lake Verkhny Kardyvach in

, at the height of . The upper course of the river is located within the

Caucasus Zapovednik Caucasus Nature Reserve (russian: Кавказский государственный природный биосферный заповедник имени Х. Г. Шапошникова) (also Caucasus, or Kavkasky) is a Russian 'zapovednik' (st ...

. The Mzymta flows in a narrow valley through Lake Kardyvach and forms several waterfalls, the biggest of which is Izumrudny (Emerald), . Downstream of Lake Kardyvach, the river flows west and enters

Sochi National Park Sochi National Park (russian: Сочинский национальный парк, also Sochinsky National Park) is Russia's oldest national park, established on May 5, 1983. It is located in the Western Caucasus, near the city of Sochi, in South ...

. The banks are covered with

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

forests and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

s, and also ancient Ubykh gardens with wild

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

and chestnut. In Esto-Sadok and Krasnaya Polyana the Mzymta flows through the first urban area, where some of the events of the 2014 Winter Olympics took place. Downstream it turns south. The Mzymta comes through Akhshtyr and Dzykhra gorges, popular tourist attractions. Mzymta enters the Black Sea in Adler, where the rest of the Winter Olympics took place. At the mouth, there is a big talus train, dividing into branches across 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 ...

s. Mzymta carries out to sea large amounts of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

Mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage underg ...

s are also found in the catchment basin. The river is fed by

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

s and rain

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in upper North America. A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting in significant in ...

s. Mzymta is a floatable river, and the popular attraction is

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

. Krasnopolyanskaya hydroelectric power station has a reservoir with a daily streamflow regulation.

Average intensity of flow

Krasnaya Polyana Krasnaya Polyana (russian: Кра́сная Поля́на) meaning "Red Meadow" is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia: Modern localities Amur Oblast As of 2012, one rural locality in Amur Oblast bears this name: * Krasnaya Polya ...

: * Kepsh: (max )

Major inflows

* Pslukh * Pudziko * Chvizhepse

Inhabited localities

Estosadok Estosadok, sometimes spelled Esto-Sadok or Estosadoc (russian: Э́стосадо́к or ; et, Eesti Aiake, lit. ''Little Estonian Garden'') is a rural locality (a '' selo'') under the administrative jurisdiction of Adlersky City District of ...

* Chvizhepse * Kepsha *

Monastyr ''Monastyr'' is a Polish role-playing game published in 2004. It is set in a dark fantasy world of Dominium. Its setting features a fantastic equivalent of the Age of Enlightenment. Most often, the game plots are cloak and dagger-like and invo ...

* Galitsyno * Kazachy Brod * Vysokoye * Moldovka * Adler

References

{{reflist Rivers of Krasnodar Krai Sochi Tributaries of the Black Sea