Volga is one of the most full-flowing rivers in Russia. It flows through the European part of the country, and its mouth is located in the Caspian Sea. Officially, the Volga is considered to be 3,530 km long. But if we add some more reservoirs to this figure, it turns out that the length of the queen of Russian rivers will be 3 692 km. The Volga is the longest river in all of Europe.
The area of its basin is 1 million 380 thousand square meters. km It is interesting that there are references to the Volga already in the writings of the ancient Greek scientist Ptolemy. He calls her "Ra" in his research. And the Arabs once called the Volga the word "Itil", which means "river."
Burlaki and Volga
At all times, the Volga went down in history due to the use of heavy burlatsky labor. It was necessary only at a time when the movement of the ships was impossible against its course, that is, during floods. For a day, a burlak artel could walk up to ten kilometers. And the total number of working hauls for the whole season could reach six hundred.
Sources of the great river
The river originates on the Valdai Hills. Not far from the village Volgoverkhovye several keys beats from under the ground. One of these springs is recognized as the source of the great Volga. This spring is fenced by a chapel. All springs in this territory flow into a small pond, from which, in turn, flows a stream no more than a meter wide. The depth of the Volga (if we arbitrarily designate this stream as the beginning of a great river) here is only 25-30 cm.
It is believed that the Volga exists mainly due to snow. About 60% of all its nutrition is due to melting snow. Another third of the Volga is provided by groundwater. And rain food accounts for only 10%.
Upper Volga: depth and other characteristics
Moving further, the stream becomes wider and then flows into a lake called Sterzh. Its length is 12 km, its width is 1.5 km. And the total area is 18 km². Sterzh is a part of the Upper Volga Reservoir, the total length of which is 85 km. And already behind the reservoir begins the part of the river, called the Upper. The depth of the Volga here averages from 1.5 to 2.1 m.
The Volga, like most other rivers, is conditionally divided into three parts - Upper, Middle and Lower. The first big city on the way of this river is Rzhev. It is followed by the ancient city of Tver. In this area, the Ivankovskoye reservoir stretches for 146 km. In its area increases to 23 m and the depth of the river. Volga in the Tver region stretches for 685 km.
There is a section of the river in the Moscow region, but on this territory it occupies no more than 9 km. Not far from it is the city of Dubna. And next to the Ivankovo dam, the largest tributary in the Moscow Region flows into the Volga - the river of the same name Dubna. Here in the 30s of the XX century a canal was built by him. Moscow, connecting the Moscow River and the Ivankovo reservoir, the waters of which are indispensable for the economy of the capital.
Further downstream is the Uglich Reservoir. Its length is 146 km. The depth of the Volga on the Uglich reservoir is 5 meters. The Rybinsk reservoir, which is the northernmost point of the Volga, has a depth of 5.6 m. Behind it, the river changes its direction from northeast to southeast.
The depth of the Volga and other indicators in the middle and lower sections
The Middle Volga section begins at the point where the Oka flows into it - the largest right tributary of the river. At this place is Nizhny Novgorod - one of the largest settlements in Russia. The width and depth of the Volga are as follows:
- the width of the channel is from 600 m to 2 km;
- maximum depth is about 2 m.
After merging with the Oka, the Volga channel becomes more and more wide. Near Cheboksary the great river meets an obstacle - the Cheboksary hydroelectric station. The length of the Cheboksary reservoir is 341 m, its width is about 16 km. Its greatest depth is 35 m, the average is 6 m. And the river becomes even larger and more powerful when the Kama River flows into it.
A section of the Lower Volga begins from this point, and now it flows into the Caspian Sea. Even further upstream, after the Volga goes around the Togliatti Mountains, the largest of all its reservoirs, the Kuibyshevskoye, is located. Its length is 500 m, its width is 40 km, and its depth is 8 m.
What is the depth of the Volga in its delta? Great River Delta Features
The length of the delta near the Caspian Sea is about 160 km. Width - about 40 km. The delta includes about 500 canals and small rivers. It is believed that the mouth of the Volga is the largest in all of Europe. Here you can meet unique representatives of the animal and plant world - pelicans, flamingos, and even see the lotus. It is already difficult to talk about such a parameter as the depth of the Volga. According to various estimates, the maximum depth of the river in its delta is up to 2.5 m. The minimum is 1-1.7 m.
By its size, this section of the Volga surpasses even the deltas of such rivers as the Terek, Kuban, Rhine and Maas. Like the river itself, it played a very important role in the formation of the first settlements in these territories. There were trade routes that connected the Lower Volga with Persia and other Arab countries. The Khazars and Polovtsian tribes settled here. Presumably, in the XIII century. a Tatar settlement called Ashtarkhan first appeared here, which eventually became the beginning of Astrakhan.
What is unusual about the Volga delta
The peculiarity of the Volga delta is that, unlike other deltas, it is not marine, but lake. After all, the Caspian Sea is inherently a large lake, since it is not connected with the World Ocean. The Caspian Sea is called the sea only because of its impressive size, which makes it look like the sea.
The Volga flows through the territory of 15 constituent entities of the Russian Federation and is one of the most important waterways for industry, shipping, energy and other important areas of the state.