Yenisei River

For the bandy club Yenisey, see Yenisey Krasnoyarsk Bandy Club.

Yenisei (Енисей)
River
Bii-Hem and Ka-Hem near Kyzyl
Countries	Mongolia, Russia
Regions	Tyva, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Khakassia, Irkutsk Oblast, Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai
Tributaries
- right	Angara, Lower Tunguska, Stony Tunguska River
Cities	Kyzyl, Shagonar, Sayanogorsk, Abakan, Divnogorsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yeniseysk, Lesosibirsk, Igarka, Dudinka
Source	Mungaragiyn-Gol
- location	ridge Dod-Taygasyn-Noor, Mongolia
- elevation	3,351 m (10,994 ft)
- length	748 km (465 mi)
- coordinates
Mouth	Yenisei Gulf
Length	5,539 km (3,442 mi)
Basin	2,580,000 km2 (996,144 sq mi)
Discharge	for Igarka
- average	19,600 m3/s (692,167 cu ft/s)
- max	112,000 m3/s (3,955,243 cu ft/s)
- min	3,120 m3/s (110,182 cu ft/s)
The Yenisei basin, including Lake Baikal

The Yenisei (Russian: Енисе́й, Yenisey, Mongolian: Gorlog), also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean (the other two being the Ob and the Lena). Rising in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia, the longest stream following the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga-Ider river system.

The maximum depth of the Yenisei is 24 metres (80 ft) and the average depth is 14 metres (45 ft). The depth of river outflow is 32 metres (106 ft) and inflow is 31 metres (101 ft).

Course

The river flows through Khakassia, and the city of Krasnoyarsk.

Its tributaries include the Angara, Nizhnyaya Tunguska, and Tuba rivers.

Lake Baikal

Main article: Lake Baikal

The 320-kilometre (200 mi), partly navigable Upper Angara River feeds into the northern end of Lake Baikal from the Buryat Republic but the largest inflow is from the Selenga which forms a delta on the south-eastern side.

The river as seen from the trans-Siberian railway near Krasnoyarsk

Flora and fauna

The Yenisei River basin (excluding Lake Baikal and lakes of the Khantayka River headwaters) is home to 55 native fish species, including two endemics: Gobio sibiricus (a gobionine cyprinid) and Thymallus nigrescens (a grayling). Most fish found in the river basin are relatively widespread Euro-Siberian or Siberian species, such as northern pike (Esox lucius), common roach (Rutilus rutilus), common dace (Leuciscus leuciscus), Siberian sculpin (Cottus poecilopus), European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and Prussian carp (Carassius gibelio). The basin is also home to many salmonids (trout, whitefish, charr, graylings, taimen and relatives) and the Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii).

The Yenisei River valley is habitat for numerous flora and fauna, with Siberian pine and Siberian larch being notable tree species. In prehistoric times Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, was abundant in the Yenisei River valley circa 6000 BC. There are also numerous bird species present in the watershed, including, for example, the hooded crow, Corvus cornix.

Taimyr reindeer herd

The Taimyr reindeer herd, a migrating tundra reindeer (R.t. sibiricus), the largest reindeer herd in the world, migrated to winter grazing ranges along the Enisei River.

Navigation

Inclined plane at Krasnoyarsk Dam

The first team to navigate the Yenisei's entire length, including its violent upper tributary in Mongolia, was an Australian-Canadian effort completed in September 2001. Ben Kozel, Tim Cope, Colin Angus and Remy Quinter were on this team. Both Kozel and Angus wrote books detailing this expedition, and a documentary was produced for National Geographic Television.

A canal inclined plane was built on the river in 1985 at the Krasnoyarsk Dam.

History

Ancient nomadic tribes such as the Ket people and the Yugh people lived along its banks. The Ket, numbering about 1000, are the only survivors today of those who originally lived throughout central southern Siberia near the river banks. Their extinct relatives included the Kotts, Assans, Arins, Baikots, and Pumpokols who lived further upriver to the south. The modern Ket lived in the eastern middle areas of the river before being assimilated politically into Russia during the 17th through 19th centuries.

Russians first reached the upper Yenisei in 1605, travelling from the Ob River, up the Ket River, portaging and then down the Yenisei as far as the Sym River.

During World War II, Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire agreed to divide Asia along a line that followed the Yenisei River to the border of China, and then along the border of China and the Soviet Union.

Pollution

Studies have shown that the Yenisei suffers from contamination caused by radioactive discharges from a factory that produced bomb-grade plutonium in the secret city of Krasnoyarsk-26, now known as Zheleznogorsk.

Gallery

• 

  The bridge over the Yenisei in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, viewed from the left bank.

• 

  Vinogradovsky most, the bridge in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, viewed from the left bank

• 

  The Yenisei (left) and the Ob flow into Kara Sea.

See also

• Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric station
• Yenisey Krasnoyarsk

External links

• Photos of river around Krasnoyarsk area at Boston.com
• William Barr, 'German paddle-steamers on the Yenisey 1878-84', The Journal of the Hakluyt Society, August 2014.
• Geographic data related to Yenisei River at OpenStreetMap