Lena River

Course

The Lena originates at 1640 meters of elevation in the Baikal Mountains, 7 km west of Lake Baikal, south of the Central Siberian Plateau. The Lena flows north-east and traverses the Lena-Angara Plateau, then is joined by three tributary rivers: (i) the Kirenga, (ii) the Vitim, and (iii) the Olyokma. From Yakutsk, the Lena River enters the Central Yakutian Lowland and flows north until joined by the eastern tributary, the Aldan River, and the western tributary, the Vilyuy River. Afterwards, the Lena bends westwards and northwards, flowing between the mountains of the Kharaulakh Range to the east (part of the Verkhoyansk Range) and the mountains of the Chekanovsky Ridge to the west. Travelling approximately due north, the Lena widens into a great river delta that merges into the Laptev Sea, a marginal region of the Arctic Ocean, south-west of the New Siberian Islands. The Lena Delta is 30000 km2 in area, being traversed by seven main branches, the most important being the Bykovsky channel, farthest east. Operational Navigation Chart C-6, 3rd edition.jpg|The lower course of the Lena River in Siberia. Operational Navigation Chart D-7, 6th edition.jpg|The upper course of the Lena River in Siberia. The Lena is navigable over a length of 3540 kilometres. The annual navigation period, when ice is minimally present or absent, lasts about 70 days in the estuarine region and 125 days elsewhere.

Basin

The area of the Lena River basin is calculated at 2490000 km2 and the mean annual discharge is 489 cubic kilometers per year. Gold is washed out of the sands of the Vitim and the Olyokma, and mammoth tusks have been dug out of the delta. There are numerous lakes in the floodplain of the river. Lakes Nedzheli and Ulakhan-Kyuel are the largest in the basin of the Lena.

Tributaries

The Kirenga flows north between the upper Lena River and Lake Baikal. The Vitim drains the area northeast of Lake Baikal. The Olyokma flows north. The Amga makes a long curve southeast and parallel to the Lena and flows into the Aldan. The Aldan also curves roughly parallel to the Lena until it turns east and flows into the Lena north of Yakutsk. The Maya, a tributary of the Aldan, drains an area almost to the Sea of Okhotsk. The T-shaped Chona-Vilyuy system drains most of the area to the west.

The main tributaries of the Lena are, from source to mouth:

• Tutura (right)
• Ilga (left)
• Kuta (left)
• Tayura (right)
• Kirenga (right)
• Pilyuda (left)
• Chechuy (right)
• Ichera (left)
• Chaya (right)
• Chuya (right)
• Vitim (right)
• Peleduy (left)
• Nyuya (left)
• Derba (left)
• Ura (left)
• Bolshoy Patom (right)
• Cherendey (left)
• Biryuk (left)
• Olyokma (right)
  • Chara
• Markha (left)
• Markhachan (left)
• Tuolba (right)
• Sinyaya (left)
• Buotama (right)
• Menda (right)
• Myla (right)
• Tamma (right)
• Lyutenge (right)
• Suola (right)
• Aldan (right)
• Batamay (right)
• Belyanka (right)
  • Munni
• Lyapiske (right)
• Tympylykan (left)
• Dyanyshka (right)
• Tyugyuene (left)
• Sitte (left)
• Khanchaly (left)
• Kenkeme (left)
• Lungkha (left)
• Namana (left)
• Vilyuy (left)
  • Chona
• Linde (left)
• Undyulyung (right)
• Nuora (left)
• Begidyan (right)
• Khoruongka (left)
• Sobolokh-Mayan (right)
• Kyuelenke (left)
• Muna (left)
• Menkere (right)
• Motorchuna (left)
• Molodo (left)
  • Syungyude
• Natara (right)
• Uel-Siktyakh (right)
• Kuranakh-Siktyakh (right)
• Byosyuke (right)
• Tikyan (right)
• Eyekit (left)
• Bulkur (left)

History

It is commonly believed that the Lena derives its name from the original Even-Evenk name Elyu-Ene, which means "the Large River".

According to folktales related a century later, in the years 1620–1623 a party of Russian fur hunters under the leadership of Demid Pyanda sailed up Nizhnyaya Tunguska, discovered the Lena, and either carried their boats there or built new ones. In 1623 Pyanda explored some 2400 km of the river from its upper reaches to the central Yakutia. In 1628 Vasily Bugor and 10 men reached the Lena, collected 'yasak' (tribute) from the 'natives' and then founded Kirinsk in 1632. In 1631 the voyevoda of Yeniseysk sent Pyotr Beketov and 20 men to construct a fortress at Yakutsk (founded in 1632). From Yakutsk other expeditions spread out to the south and east. The Lena delta was reached in 1655.

Two of the three groups of survivors of the ill-fated Jeannette expedition reached Lena Delta in September, 1881. The one led by engineer George W. Melville was rescued by native Tungus huntsmen. Of the group led by Captain George W. De Long, only two of the men survived; the others died of starvation.

The Lena massacre was the name given to the 1912 shooting-down of striking goldminers and local citizens who protested at the working conditions in the mine near Bodaybo in northern Irkutsk. The incident was reported in the Duma (parliament) by Kerensky and is credited with stimulating revolutionary feeling in Russia.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, when he was exiled to the Central Siberian Plateau, may have taken his alias, Lenin, from the Lena River.

Delta

At the end of the Lena River there is a large delta that extends 100 km into the Laptev Sea and is about 400 km wide. The delta is frozen tundra for about seven months of the year, but in May the region is transformed into a lush wetland for a few months. Part of the area is protected as the Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve. Fyodor Matisen mapped the delta. Lena River Delta IMG 20140908 201936.jpg|Lena River Delta in Autumn 2014 Lena River Delta - Landsat 2000.jpg|Lena river Delta by Landsat, February 2000 The Lena Delta divides into a multitude of flat islands. The most important are (from west to east): Chychas Aryta, Petrushka, Sagastyr, Samakh Ary Diyete, Turkan Bel'keydere, Sasyllakh Ary, Kolkhoztakh Bel'keydere, Grigoriy Diyelyakh Bel'kee (Grigoriy Islands), Nerpa Uolun Aryta, Misha Bel'keydere, Atakhtay Bel'kedere, Arangastakh, Urdiuk Pastakh Bel'key, Agys Past' Aryta, Dallalakh Island, Otto Ary, Ullakhan Ary and Orto Ues Aryta.

Turukannakh-Kumaga is a long and narrow island off the Lena Delta's western shore.

One of the Lena delta islands, Ostrov Amerika-Kuba-Aryta or Ostrov Kuba-Aryta, was perhaps named after the island of Cuba during Soviet times. It is on the northern edge of the delta. If named before the Soviet times, it is possible that the islands were named after the American Swan, found in the area (Kuba being the Yakut term for 'swan').

Fish

As Lena is located at remote and undeveloped regions of the Russian Far East, its fish resource is very well preserved. Some of the species found in the river include: Siberian taimen, Siberian sturgeon, Upper Yenisei grayling.

Notes

References

References

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6. {{GVR. 253823. Река Лена
7. (January 2023). "Contribution of summer net precipitation to winter river discharge in permafrost zone of the Lena River basin". Journal of Hydrology.
8. (2006-07-06). "Lena River Delta - A Global Ecoregion". [[World Wide Fund for Nature]].
9. (June 2023). "Structural analysis of factors for revitalizing Lena River logistics using ISM method". The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics.
10. "Открытие русскими Средней и Восточной Сибири".
11. "Google Maps".
12. (12 May 2020). "The Taimen of Russia's Tugur River". Fly Fisherman.
13. (August 2014). "Ichthyofauna of the Lena River (Laptev Sea Basin): Modern composition and historical formation". Journal of Ichthyology.