The Veleka ( , ) is a river in the very southeast of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

(

Burgas Province Burgas Province ( bg, Област Бургас, translit=Oblast Burgas, formerly the Burgas okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, including the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The province is named after its administrative and ind ...

), as well as the very northeast of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. It is 147 km long, of which 108 km lies in BulgariaStatistical Yearbook 2017

National Statistical Institute (Bulgaria) The National Statistical Institute or NSI ( bg, Национален статистически институт or НСИ) is the Bulgarian state agency responsible for the collection and dissemination of statistical data on the population, ec ...

, p. 17 and 25 km lie in Turkey, and has its sources from a number of

Karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

springs in the Turkish part of the Strandzha (İstranca) mountains. It flows 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, Rom ...

at the Bulgarian village of

Sinemorets Sinemorets ( bg, Синеморец; also ''Sinemorec'', ''Sinemoretz'', "place on the blue sea") is a village and seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. Etymology The current name dates back to 1934; prior to that, the village was ...

. Veleka is situated in Strandzha Nature Park. The river's width near the mouth is from 8 to 10 m and its depth ranges from 2 to 4 m. At its mouth, the Veleka is 50 m wide and 7 to 8 m deep, overflowing shortly before making a turn and pouring into the sea. The waters of the Veleka are rich in flora and fauna, with more than 30 species of freshwater fish present, the most frequent one being the

chub Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and genera. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species '' Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub. In family Cyprinida ...

. Five endangered animal species inhabit the river, as well as important regional plants.

Namesakes

Veleka Ridge Veleka Ridge is a predominantly ice-free ridge extending 3 km between Charity Glacier in the north and Botev Point in the south, and 1.3 km wide, in the southwest extremity of Friesland Ridge, Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island in ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after Veleka River.

References

Rivers of Bulgaria Rivers of Turkey Landforms of Burgas Province Strandzha International rivers of Europe Tributaries of the Black Sea {{Turkey-river-stub