Usa (Pechora)
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The Usa (russian: Уса́; kv, Усва, ''Usva'') is a river in the northeast corner of European Russia that drains the Polar Urals southwest into the
Pechora Pechora (russian: Печо́ра; kv, Печӧра, ''Pećöra'') is a town in the Komi Republic, Russia, located on the Pechora River, west of and near the northern Ural Mountains. The area of the town is . Population: History Pechora was ...
. The Polar Urals tend to the northeast and the Usa runs parallel to them. It is in the
Komi Republic The Komi Republic (russian: Республика Коми; kv, Коми Республика), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar. The population of th ...
of
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 ...
and the largest
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 drai ...
of the Pechora, which it joins from the
right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...
. It is long, with a
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, ...
of . The Usa has an average discharge of , but this varies from a maximum of in June to a minimum of in April.


History

The Usa valley has been inhabited for 40,000 years, as evidenced by the archaeological site Mamontovaya Kurya (Russian: Мамонтовой Курьи, "the mammoth curve"). With the
Russian conquest of Siberia The Russian conquest of Siberia took place in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, when the Khanate of Sibir became a loose political structure of vassalages that were being undermined by the activities of Russian explorers. Although outnumber ...
it became one of the main routes into Siberia. The route ran from the Pechora, which connects to other rivers in northern Russia, up the Usa, across the low Kamen Portage and down the Sob River to
Ob River } The Ob ( rus, Обь, p=opʲ: Ob') is a major river in Russia. It is in western Siberia; and together with Irtysh forms the world's seventh-longest river system, at . It forms at the confluence of the Biya and Katun which have their origins ...
where there were customhouses at the Sob barrier and
Obdorsk Salekhard (russian: Салеха́рд; Khanty: , ''Pułñawat''; yrk, Саляʼ харад, ''Saljaꜧ harad'') is a town in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia, serving as the okrug's administrative centre. It crosses the Arctic Circle, th ...
. During the short summer season this route was preferred by west-bound travellers since most of the sailing was down-river. For other Ural crossings see
Verkhoturye Verkhoturye (russian: Верхоту́рье) is a historical town and the administrative center of Verkhotursky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located in the middle Ural Mountains on the left bank of the Tura River north of Yekaterinb ...
.


Course

The river has its sources in the northern
Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...
, at the southern end of the
Polar Urals The Polar Urals (russian: Полярный Урал) are a mountain range in the western part of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the northeastern part of Komi, Russian Federation. The border between Europe and Asia runs along the main ridg ...
, and it flows towards the southwest, roughly parallel to the mountain range. The main river is formed by the confluence of the Bolshaya Usa (''Large Usa'') and the Malaya Usa (''Little Usa'') some 30 km east of
Vorkuta Vorkuta (russian: Воркута́; kv, Вӧркута, ''Vörkuta''; Nenets for "the abundance of bears", "bear corner") is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin ...
. The two tributaries are steep, with many rapids and waterfalls. After the confluence the main river is calm, with only a few rapids in its upper sections. Its banks here are high and cliff-like, but further downriver they become lower, wooded and boggy, except for a section around the settlement of Adak (Russian: Адак), where the river cuts through the Chernyshov Hills. Below the settlement of Sivomaskinsky (Russian: Сивомаскинский) the river gets much wider, and in its lower reaches it is from wide. It also starts forming meanders and sand islands, and it keeps this appearance all the way to its mouth. Some from its mouth lies the town of
Usinsk Usinsk (russian: Усинск; kv, Ускар, ''Uskar'') is a town in the Komi Republic, Russia, located east of the republic's capital city of Syktyvkar and north of the town of Pechora, on the northern bank of the Usa River, before its c ...
and the river port of Parma. The Usa flows into the Pechora River at the settlement of Ust-Usa. It freezes over in October or November and is icebound until the spring thaw begins in May or June. Its largest tributaries are, from the left:
Yelets Yelets, or Elets (russian: Еле́ц), is a city in Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Bystraya Sosna River, which is a tributary of the Don. Population: History Yelets is the oldest center of the Central Black Earth Region. It was me ...
, Lemva, Bolshaya Synya, Bolshoy Kochmes and Kosyu, and from the right:
Vorkuta Vorkuta (russian: Воркута́; kv, Вӧркута, ''Vörkuta''; Nenets for "the abundance of bears", "bear corner") is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin ...
, Syoyda, Adzva and Kolva. The river is navigable upstream from its mouth, and there are river ports at Abez, Petrun, Makarikha, Parma and Ust-Usa. Within the Usa basin is the large Pechora coalfield, and in its lower parts, by the town of Usinsk, there are several big petroleum and natural gas fields.


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 the Komi Republic