Angara River
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| Angara River | |
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| Origin | Lake Baikal |
| Mouth | Yenisei River |
| Basin countries | Russia, Mongolia |
| Length | 1,779 km (1,105 mi) |
| Source elevation | 456 m |
| Avg. discharge | 120 km³/year |
The Angara River (Russian: Ангара́) is a 1779 km (1105 miles) long river in Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai, south-east Siberia, Russia. It is the only river flowing out of Lake Baikal, and is a headwater of the Yenisei River.[1]
Leaving Lake Baikal near the settlement of Listvyanka, the Angara flows north past the Irkutsk Oblast's cities of Irkutsk, Angarsk, Bratsk, and Ust-Ilimsk. It then turns west, enters the Krasnoyarsk Krai, and falls into the Yenisei near Strelka (40 km north of Lesosibirsk).
Below its junction with the Ilim River the Angara has been known in the past as the Upper Tunguska (Russian: Верхняя Тунгуска, Verkhnyaya Tunguska).
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[edit] Dams and reservoirs
The Angara is dammed by the dams of three major hydroelectric plants that have been constructed since the 1950s.
- Irkutsk Dam (Иркутская ГЭС), forming the Irkutsk Reservoir, which floods the valley of the river from its source to Irkutsk, and slightly raises the water level in Lake Baikal.
- Bratsk Dam, forming the Bratsk Reservoir.
- Ust-Ilimsk Dam (Усть-Илимская ГЭС), at Ust-Ilimsk, forming the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir.
- Bogychany Dam (Богучанская ГЭС) (under construction), at Kodinsk
[edit] Navigation
The Angara is used for navigation on several isolated section: [2] [3] [4]
- from Lake Baikal to Irkutsk;
- from Irkutsk to Bratsk;
- on Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir;
- from the Boguchany Dam (Kodinsk) to the river's fall into the Yenisei.
The section between Ust-Ilimsk Dam and Boguchany Dam has not been navigable due to rapids; however, with the completion of the Boguchany Dam, and filling of its reservoir, at least part of this section of the river will become navigable as well. Nonetheless, this will not enable through navigation from Lake Baikal to the Yenisei, as none of the existing 3 dams has been provided with locks for passing boats, nor will Boguchany dam have them.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Angara River. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
- ^ Angara River, southeast-central Russia
- ^ Енисейское пароходство: Ангара - судоходство и грузоперевозки (Yenisei Shipping Company: Angara - navigation and cargo shipping) (Russian)
- ^ ОСОБЕННОСТИ ДВИЖЕНИЯ И СТОЯНКИ СУДОВ ПО ВНУТРЕННИМ ВОДНЫМ ПУТЯМ ВОСТОЧНО-СИБИРСКОГО БАССЕЙНА (Special navigation rules for the internal waterways of the Eastern Siberia Basin) (Russian)
[edit] External links
