Where is the source of the Urals? Rivers of the Urals: description, characteristics, features and interesting facts. The ancient name of the river. Ural
Ural (Bashk. Yayi ҡ , Kaz. Zhaiyk) is a river in Eastern Europe, flows through Russia and Kazakhstan, flows into the Caspian Sea.
The ancient name (before 1775) was Yaik. The hydronym goes back through Turkic media to the ancient Iranian name: under the name *Daiks the river is shown on the map of Ptolemy of the 2nd century AD. Currently, the ancient name of the river is official in Kazakhstan, as well as in the Bashkir language.
It is the third longest river in Europe, second in this indicator only to the Volga and Danube (even longer than the Dnieper!).
On old European maps the Urals are called Rhymnus fluvius. The first mention in Russian chronicles was in 1140.
Geography
It originates on the slopes of the Kruglaya Sopka peak (Uraltau ridge) in the Uchalinsky region of Bashkortostan. Flows into the Caspian Sea.
Pyotr Rychkov in his book “Topography of Orenburg” wrote:
Yaik has a peak behind the Ural Mountains on the Siberian Road, in the Kupakan volost, from a mountain called Kalgan Tau, which means: The extreme or remaining mountain in the Urals
This river has been dividing the Bashkirtsov and the Kirgis Kaisaks since ancient times
URAL RIVER BASIN
At the beginning, the Ural flows from north to south, but having met the elevated plateau of the Kazakh steppe, it turns sharply to the northwest, after Orenburg it changes direction to the southwest, near the city of Uralsk the river makes a new sharp bend to the south and in this main direction, meandering now to the west, now to the east, flows into the Caspian Sea. The mouth of the Urals is divided into several branches and gradually becomes shallower.
In 1769, Pallas counted nineteen branches, part of which stood out from the Urals 66,000 meters above its confluence with the sea; in 1821 there were only nine, in 1846 - only three: Yaitskoye, Zolotinskoye and Peretasknoye. By the end of the 50s and the beginning of the 60s of the 19th century, almost no branches with a constant flow were separated from the Urals until the city of Guryev. The first branch, separated from the main channel on the left, was Peretask, which was divided into the Peretasknaya and Aleksashkin channels.
Even lower, the channel of the Urals was divided into 2 branches - Zolotinsky and Yaitsky, and both the first and second were divided into two mouths: Bolshoye and Maloye Yaitskoye, Bolshoye and Staroye Zolotinskoye. Another branch, Bukharka, flowed into the sea between Peretask and Zolotoy.
URAL RIVER NEAR THE CITY OF URALSK
The Ural basin ranks sixth in size among the rivers of Russia and is equal to 237,000 km². The length of the river itself is estimated at 2428 km.
The water horizon is at an absolute height of 635 m.
The fall of the Urals water is not particularly great; from the upper reaches to Orsk it is about 0.9 meters per 1 kilometer, from Orsk to Uralsk no more than 30 centimeters per 1 kilometer, below - even less.
SOURCE OF THE URAL RIVER - BASHKIRIA
The width of the channel is generally insignificant, but varied. The bottom of the Urals is rocky in the upper reaches, but in most parts of its course it is clayey and sandy, and within the Ural region there are stone ridges. Near the Uralsk, the river bottom is lined with small pebbles, which are found in somewhat larger sizes at the “White Hills”; special pebbles made of dense clay, in addition, are found in some places in the lower reaches of the Urals (in the “Pogorelaya Luka”). The current of the Urals is quite tortuous and forms a large number of loops. The Urals, with a small drop in water, very often changes the main channel along its entire length, digs new passages for itself, leaving deep reservoirs, or “oxbow lakes,” in all directions.
Thanks to the changing flow of the Urals, many Cossack villages that were previously near the river later ended up on oxbow lakes; residents of other villages were forced to move to new places only because their old ashes were gradually undermined and demolished by the river. In general, the Ural valley is cut on both sides by oxbow lakes, narrow channels, wide channels, lakes, small lakes; During the spring flood, which occurs from the melting of snow on the Ural Mountains, they are all filled with water, which remains in some until next year.
In the spring, rivers and streams carry a lot of melt water into the Urals, the river overflows, overflows its banks, and in those places where the banks are sloping, the river overflows 3-7 meters. The Urals are not very navigable. Sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, carp, catfish, pike perch, bream, catfish, and chubak are found here. There is also a water supply from the river to the oil fields.
SEVEN BROTHERS RESERVE IN THE CHELYABINSK REGION
Tributaries
Most of the tributaries flow into it from the right side, facing the General Syrt; of them are known: Artazim, Bolshoi Kizil, Tanalyk, Guberlya, Sakmara, Zazhivnaya, lost in the floodplain, not reaching the Urals, in the meadows between the villages of Studenovsky and Kindelinsky, Kindelya and Irtek within the Orenburg region; in the West Kazakhstan region, several shallow rivers flow below the Irtek, including Rubezhka, at the mouth of which were the first settlements of the Yaik Cossacks; the most watery tributary on the right is the river. Chagan, flowing from General Syrt.
The following rivers flow in from the left: Gumbeyka, Suunduk, Bolshoi Kumak, Or, Ilek, Utva, Barbasheva (Barbastau) and Solyanka, noticeable only in spring and drying up in summer.
Border between Asia and Europe
Memorial sign “Europe - Asia” on the banks of the Urals in Verkhneuralsk
Contrary to general misconception, the Ural River is a natural water border between Asia and Europe only in its upper reaches in Russia. The border passes through the cities of Verkhneuralsk and Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk region. In Kazakhstan, the geographical border between Europe and Asia runs south from Orsk along the Mugodzhary ridge. Thus, the Ural River is an inland European river; only the Russian upper reaches of the river east of the Ural Range belong to Asia.
Preliminary results of the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society in Kazakhstan in April - May 2010 showed that drawing the border between Europe and Asia along the Ural River, as well as along the Emba, does not have sufficient scientific grounds. The fact is that south of Zlatoust the Ural ridge, having lost its axis, breaks up into several parts, then the mountains gradually disappear altogether, that is, the main landmark when drawing the border disappears. The Ural and Emba rivers do not share anything, since the terrain they cross is identical.
URAL RIVER - ORENBURG CITY
URAL RIVER IN ORENBURG REGION
The largest river in the Orenburg region is the Ural (in ancient times Yaik), the main part of its flow is formed in the Orenburg region.
Two other large rivers - Sakmara and Ilek - originate in Bashkiria and Kazakhstan, respectively, but flow into the Urals within the Orenburg region. The Ural is the third river in Europe in terms of its length; in length it is second only to the Volga and Danube. Even the Dnieper is 249 kilometers shorter than the Urals.
The Ural is the main water artery of the Orenburg region. The Ural River crosses the Orenburg region from east to west, flowing through 10 districts of the region for 1164 km. The main feature of the river is the uneven flow. During the spring flood, the Ural turns into a huge watercourse, filling the entire floodplain 6 - 8 km wide.
The Ural is the third river in Europe in terms of its length; in length it is second only to the Volga and Danube. Even the Dnieper is 249 kilometers shorter than the Urals.
The first two large Orenburg tributaries of the Urals, Tanalyk and Suunduk, currently flow into the Iriklinskoye reservoir, forming bays of the same name. The Tanalyk River, 225 km long, originates in the spurs of the Uralau, then crosses Irendyk. The average water flow in Tanalyk does not exceed 1.0 m3/s.
In the area of the city of Orsk, two more significant tributaries, the Bolshoi Kumak and the Or, flow into the Urals from the left.
Throughout the entire length from the Iriklinsky reservoir to the mouth of the Sakmara, the Ural receives only one significant tributary from the right - the Guberlya.
The largest left-bank tributaries of the Urals from the city of Orsk to the mouth of Ilek - Kiyalyburtya, Urtaburtya, Burtya, Berdyanka, Donguz, Chernaya - are typical steppe rivers with short but stormy spring floods. The last two of them - Donguz and Chernaya - practically dry up in the middle of summer due to the construction of large reservoirs on them.
The Ilek River is the largest left-bank tributary of the Urals. Below Ilek, the Ural receives three more significant tributaries on the right: Kindelyu, Irtek and Chagan. The last of them flows into the Urals outside the Orenburg region.
Near the city of Orsk the Or River flows into the Urals. In the “Gorge” the river cuts almost straight through the Ural ridge, and even lower down the 40-kilometer section of the Khabarninsky Gorge begins. In this section, the Ural receives the waters of the mountain rivers Guberli with Chebakla and Kinderli on the right, and on the left - Ebita, Aituarki and Alimbet.
On the map, the Ural basin resembles a tree bent in one direction with a thick trunk in the middle and very short branches. Only the right tributary, the Sakmara River, flowing for a long distance parallel to the Urals, has a relatively dense branched network of tributaries.
The Ural River is not navigable, its width is 50-170 m, its depth is 3-5 m, the flow speed is 0.3 m/s, the bottom is sandy, there are no fords. The banks are predominantly steep, the height of the cliffs is 5-9 m. The Ural floodplain is wide - 10-12 km, meadow, with significant tracts of forest, a large number of forests, sparse bushes, cut by numerous rivers, oxbow lakes and channels, and many lakes.
In ancient sources the names of the Ural River are found - Likos, Daiks, Daikh, Dzhaikh, as well as Ruza, Yaik, Yagak, Yagat, Ulusu, Zapolnaya River. The name of the river Yaik and its consonant names Daiks, Daikh, Yagak, etc. have been found for about two thousand years. Now it is difficult to say what the word “Daix” meant in the time of Ptolemy, when the Iranian-speaking Sarmatian tribes were still roaming the Urals basin. The Russian form “Yaik” is first found in the Russian chronicle of 1229.
It is considered to be a derivative of the common Turkic stem “Zhaik” with the meaning “wide river bed” or “spreading widely.”
GOLDEN AUTUMN ON THE URAL RIVER
THE LARGEST TRIBUTORS OF THE URAL IN THE ORENBURG REGION
Sakmara River- this is the largest tributary of the Urals. The length of Sakmara within the Orenburg region is about 380 km.
In the upper reaches of the Sakmara it is a typical mountain river with steep banks and narrow terraces, in the middle and lower reaches its valley is wide, asymmetrical with well-defined two terraces and a populated floodplain.
Ilek River- the largest left-bank tributary of the Urals (623 km). Its sources are located in the Mutojar Mountains. In terms of drainage area (41 thousand km2), Ilek is one third larger than Sakmara, but carries 2.5 times less water than the most abundant tributary of the Urals (the annual flow rate is 1569 m3).
The Ilek River has a wide, well-developed valley with two terraces above the floodplain. The size of the Ilek valley is sometimes not inferior to the Ural valley. The Ilek floodplain is replete with numerous channels and oxbow lakes.
FOREST-STEPPE VALLEY OF THE URAL RIVER
ATTRACTIONS OF THE URAL RIVER
Alabaster Mountain
The next mountain on the left bank of the Urals is Alabaster, located 75 km by land and 147 km by water above Uralsk. The mountain is half eaten by a quarry - alabaster was mined here for a long time. To the east of the former quarry stretches a high slope with marly screes. Its middle part is overgrown with powerful oaks for these places, as well as birch, aspen, poplars with bird cherry, viburnum, and goat willow in the undergrowth.
Three kilometers below the Alabaster Mountain, the Ural is washed by the not so high Dolinsky Yar, composed of sandstones, flagstones, and conglomerates. Not many oak and birch trees climb its slopes.
We sail through the Urals for another 30 km and on the left bank near Aula-Aksai we again notice chalk outcrops. But the chalk and marly slopes reach their greatest heights somewhat lower, on the Kitayshinsky Yar.
Below the mouth of the Rubezhka River and the village of Rubezhinskoye, where the navigable section of the Urals begins, another hill appears on the left bank. The river washes her away twice. The first time is right behind the rapid reach of the Uporny Yar, where the Urals, hitting a high steep marly scree, makes a turn of almost 180°. Here the river reaches the fastest rapid below Orenburg, Saurkin, and breaks into two channels. After 5 km on the path of the Urals there is a second high marly cliff - Polousov Yar. Both ravine cliffs - Saurkin and Polousov - rise above the river by more than 50 m. Their slopes are complicated by giant landslides. In a kind of amphitheater between them lies a natural phenomenon of the Ural valley - the Krasnoshkolny relict forest. One of the slopes of this huge amphitheater is overgrown with a magnificent oak forest, under the cover of which there are hazel, or hazel, and a forest apple tree. The oak forest herbage consists of bracken fern and lily of the valley, May celandine.
Treasure Coast
This tract, inconspicuous at first glance, on the banks of the Urals deserves the most careful treatment. It was not without reason that popular wisdom called it the Coast of Treasures - this is one of the most remarkable places on the entire right-bank slope of the Ural valley from Orenburg to Ilek.
If up to the mouth of the Ilek the steep bank near the Urals is on the right, then below the Ilek the left bank, which entirely belongs to the Ural region, is much more often steep. In the Ilek-Uralsk section, the river washes away at least six hills, which have salt domes in their core, and on the surface there is chalk, marl, white clay, ferruginous sandstones and flagstones. These. the hills form a single chain of small mountains stretched along the junction of General Syrt and the Caspian lowland. The Ural manages to break through this chain and rush south only south of Uralsk, leaving the seventh dome from Ilek - Chalk Hills on the right.
The first on the path of the Urals is the Utvinsky chalk island. It is located slightly above the mouth of the Utva River, 6-10 km northeast of the village of Burlin in the Ural region. During the spring flood, Utvinsky Island is surrounded by water on all sides, from the north by the Urals, from the west and southwest by Utva, from the south and east by Lake Bumakol and the chalk channels connecting it with the Urals. Only by mid-June is a land road to this unusual island usually established.
At the foot of the ancient ravines
Precipitous banks in the Urals are called ravines, and the high ones with outcrops of bedrock are known among local residents under the names such-and-such mountain, such-and-such forehead, shore. These are usually steep slopes of the river valley, remarkable in landscape geological terms, having the significance of unique natural monuments.
One of them is located on the right bank of the Urals between the villages of Pervaya and Vtoraya Zubochistka, Perevolotsky district, Orenburg region. The steep and high coast of the Urals here is complicated by several cirque-shaped landslides, which were formed as a result of downslope displacements of blocks of sandy-clayey sediments associated with the activity of groundwater.
But there is something else that is interesting here. In this section, the Ural lobe is crossed by a depressed section of the earth's crust about 1 km wide. On both sides there is a decrease in the limitation of layers of Permian red-colored and variegated rocks inclined in different directions. In mountainous countries, such phenomena are called grabens; As a result, rocks of different ages and compositions appear on the same horizon. This peculiar graben was formed not in the mountains, but on the plains - in a depression, the sides of which are composed of dense Permian and Triassic rocks formed more than 200 million years ago. Here, gray and white clays, mergues, and sandstones of the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods have been preserved from erosion. Their age ranges from 50 to 130 million years. The geological structure of the Ural coast is complicated by landslide processes in this area. As a result, the coastal slopes are replaced by variegated sandy clays of various shades, marls, calcareous tuffs, and ocher screes. It seems that nature has collected all the colorful gamuts of yellow, gray-green, brown, and red into this unique collection of sedimentary rocks.
Lakes of the Ural floodplain
There are many wonderful landscape features near the lakes of the Ural floodplain. For example, the habitat of the most ancient and amazing relic that has survived to this day, the chilim, has been preserved here. Its continuous thickets, covering the watery surface with rosettes of leaves, have been preserved on the lakes of the Ural floodplain below Orenburg: Bespelyukhin, Orekhovoy, Bolshoi Orlovo. Old Ural, Lipov, Oreshki, Dzhilimny, Forpostno and many others. Several names have been assigned to this plant: chilim, rogulnik, and among the people it is also known as water or devil’s nut, horned nut, live anchor, water chestnut.
Fossilized remains of chilim fruits were found in Cretaceous deposits. This means that it has inhabited the fresh water bodies of the Earth for more than 70 million years. But at present, chilim thickets have been preserved in a few places. It is noteworthy that, having formed continuous thickets on one of the lakes, it no longer settles on neighboring lakes, but sometimes even tens or hundreds of kilometers around. The above indicates the relict nature of the chilim, preserved only in certain environmental conditions. In recent years, chilim lakes have been taken under protection in Mordovia, Bashkiria, the Altai Mountains, the Far East and in many other regions of our country. Chilim is listed in the Red Book.
Jasper Mountain Colonel
We find a description of this mountain from P. S. Pallas, who visited here in 1769. He wrote: “Beyond the Or River a mountain range begins, in which the best types of jasper stone are visible. The layers in this mountain, just like in the jasper mountains lying near Yaik, mostly descend into the depths from the western to the eastern side. The local flask has many different colors. The best jasper, especially in large spread, has a color that is either coffee or white with red and yellowish stripes. There are also pieces depicting grass and trees. There are Kyrgyz graves on every hill. Nowhere can one find the best pieces of local jasper as on these graves, and it seems that the action of the sun produced a much better color on the outside than on the inside of the stone.” In the vicinity of Orsk there were already several quarries at that time.
Academician A.E. Fersman, describing the minerals of the Soviet Union in the book “Journey for Stone,” placed six pieces of stone on the title of the book, specifically Orsk jasper, to which the scientist devoted many enthusiastic lines: “It is difficult to give an exhaustive description of this jasper - its designs are so varied and coloring, we know over two hundred varieties of jasper in this area, and the best designs and colors belong specifically to the jaspers of this deposit... It seems to me that we are in a wonderful art gallery. Not every artist will be able to convey such combinations of tones and colors that nature itself has scattered here with a generous hand. It’s like a stormy sea: its greenish waves shimmer with the reddish glow of dawn, here is the white edge of foam, and here are the rocky shores...” and further: “... Orsky jaspers are undoubtedly the national wealth of the country.”
In addition to Mount Colonel, along the Urals there are a number of other places where jasper is born. Many of them are not yet widely known; they contain the future glory of the Trans-Ural jasper belt.
FISHING AND FISH ON THE URAL RIVER
Fish spawning in the Urals
In 1981-1983. The conditions and efficiency of sturgeon spawning above the city of Uralsk were studied by the Orenburg Laboratory of Landscape Reclamation and Nature Conservation. The author had the opportunity to lead the work of this expedition.
Observations have shown that almost all non-silted areas of the river bottom with hard soil in the spring serve as spawning grounds for sturgeon. It was found that spawning is most effective in large fields of riverbed and beach Mechnik, crushed stone and cemented shell rock, where the flow speed during high water reaches 2 m/s, preventing siltation of the soil and deposited eggs.
On a 315-kilometer stretch of the river from Uralsk to Ilek, the expedition studied several types of spawning grounds. The most common of them were riverine beaches. They are formed, as is known, along convex shores, where thick layers of coarse material accumulate. The excess of the beaches above the low-water level of the river reaches 4 m, the width is 40-120 m. The length of the Ural beaches, depending on the radius of the bend, ranges from 200-300 m to 2 km. The longest beaches on the Ilek-Uralsk section are Kambavskie Sands (below the village of Yanvartseva) and Trekinskie Sands (above the city of Uralsk). The most valuable in terms of quality are Verkhnekirsanovsky and Aksuatsky beaches with a dense pebble surface, located respectively 179 and 36 kilometers above Uralsk.
UPPER URAL RIVER
Belorybitsa in the Urals
White fish is a representative of salmon fish, very close to whitefish. It reaches 120 cm in length and 20 kg in weight. In its appearance it somewhat resembles the well-known asp. The whitefish is a predator, but in the Urals it hardly feeds. The white fish enters the river to spawn no more than twice in its life. She lives until she is 11 years old.
The closest relative of the white fish, nelma, lives in the Arctic Ocean basin. It was from there, according to scientists, that at the end of the Ice Age it moved along chains of lakes across the Kama and Volga to the Caspian Sea and, having changed somewhat, became a whitefish.
Whitefish is a valuable commercial fish, but its catch is now prohibited everywhere. Through the efforts of scientists and fish farmers, it was possible to maintain its numbers artificially. At the foot of the Volgograd hydroelectric power station dam on the Volga, gravel spawning grounds have been built for white fish. The only natural spawning grounds for this fish are in the Urals.
One of the little-known inhabitants of the Urals and its tributaries is the lamprey. It belongs to the oldest class of cyclostome fish. It has a snake-like body, about 0.5 m long, weighing up to 260 g. The lamprey has a number of features that are not characteristic of other fish species. Her mouth is a deep funnel-suction cup; at the bottom there is a tongue, which, like a piston, either extends or retracts. The tongue serves as a drill to penetrate the fish's skin. The lamprey has a third eye, the parietal one, located near the nasal opening. There is no lens in it; with its help, lampreys perceive only light. They inherited this organ from their ancestors, which were widespread in the Silurian and Devonian periods, that is, more than 400 million years ago. Thus, the lamprey can be considered a kind of “living fossil”.
URAL RIVER, GUBERLIN MOUNTAINS
Sevruga in the Urals
The most numerous sturgeon of the Urals is the stellate sturgeon. The Ural-Caspian fisheries produce up to 70% of the world's stellate sturgeon catches. The main spawning grounds for stellate sturgeon are located in the lower reaches of the river. A small amount of sturgeon rises above Uralsk, reaching Ilek and even Rassypnaya. Stellate sturgeon is represented mainly by the spring form. It spawns later than other sturgeons at water temperatures above 12-14° C. The average length of the Ural stellate sturgeon is about 120-140 cm, weight is about 10-15 kg.
The only resident species of sturgeon in Uralsk is the sterlet. It is found throughout the lower and middle reaches of the river - very rarely everywhere. The usual dimensions of the Ural sterlet are: length about 60 cm, weight 2.5 kg.
In addition to sturgeon, other species of migratory fish are found in the Urals. The most interesting of them are white fish and lamprey.
The whitefish is endemic to the Caspian basin; it is not found anywhere in the world except the Caspian Sea and its tributaries. Just recently, the white fish was threatened with complete extinction. After the construction of a cascade of Volga hydroelectric power stations, it almost completely lost its natural spawning grounds located in the Ufa River. In the 50s and 60s, a small Caspian herd of whitefish was supported by spawning grounds in the Urals.
The spawning sites of these fish in the Urals have not been precisely established. Belorybitsa enters the river from the Caspian Sea from October to March. Its spawning occurs in October - November on gravel and pebble soils. In the early 80s, individual specimens of whitefish were caught in the Urals near Orenburg, Sakmara, and Bolshoi Ika. One of the spawning grounds of the white fish is probably located under Mount Mayachnaya in the Belyaevsky district, 200 km above Orenburg. The number of white fish spawning in the Urals is apparently estimated at several hundred specimens, since scientists now count about 20 thousand individuals of this species in the entire Caspian herd.
TRIBUTAR OF THE URAL RIVER - GUBERLIA RIVER
Migratory fish in the Urals
It takes a lot of time to restore strength and develop a new portion of reproductive products for re-entering the river to spawn: females - 5-6 years, males - 3-4 years. Therefore, despite the long life expectancy (up to 30 years or more), each breeder can enter the river only a few times in its life.
Every year, huge hordes of migratory fish flock to the Urals. Their advanced detachments reach Ilek, Orenburg and even Orsk. Ichthyological observations 1981 - 1983 It has been established that the largest sturgeon specimens rise to the middle of the river reach. This means that the middle reaches of the Urals are of decisive importance for the conservation of large-sized sturgeon specimens.
The largest fish in the Caspian basin is the beluga. In the 20s of our century, fish weighing up to 12 c were caught in the Urals. In former times, larger specimens were also caught. The usual weight of belugas spawning above Uralsk is 150-300 kg for females and 50-90 kg for males. To this day, beluga whales weighing 600 kg or more are still found.
Sturgeon in the Urals
Sturgeon are freshwater fish, many of them have adapted to live in brackish and even sea waters. But not a single species of sturgeon can reproduce outside freshwater bodies. Sturgeons reached their greatest numbers in the Caspian Sea basin, where 5 of the 23 species of sturgeon in the world are represented - beluga, sturgeon, thorn and stellate sturgeon, which have mastered the food resources of the sea, where they spend most of their lives, Sterlet, which is a marine species, that is, never does not leave the river.
Beluga, sturgeon, thorn and stellate sturgeon of the Caspian Sea are migratory fish. They regularly migrate from the Caspian Sea to rivers to breed. Migratory fish are divided into winter and spring races. Winter fish enter the river in summer and autumn, and after overwintering, they spawn. Spring fish enter the river in winter and spring and spawn in the same year.
Migratory fish in the river, as a rule, do not feed or feed very little. Overcoming the river current during spawning migrations, a long stay in the river and the spawning process itself lead to severe depletion of the producers. It has been established that stellate sturgeon and sturgeon lose up to 30% of their weight during spawning migration, and beluga lose up to 50% of their weight. And, as a rule, the greater the energy reserves of a particular individual, the larger it is, the higher along the river it can and tends to rise.
FISHING ON THE URAL RIVER
This time we decided to go to Krasnaya Luka with the whole family. It attracted my father because he, a lover of fishing for bait, always left here with a good catch. Unmarked place - not far from the city, rarely visited by fishermen. It is also convenient because in the afternoon there was shade under the yar, saving from the sweltering heat. At the top, a ravine overgrown with green grass approached the very shore. There stood a group of silver poplars right there.
The sun was still high when we arrived at the place. A man was rising heavily towards us, bending under the weight of a backpack from which carp tails were sticking out. We looked at each other silently. He looked at us and our gear unkindly and contemptuously. I asked naively, running my finger along the trembling carp’s tail:
- Did you catch it here? On fishing rods?
“Here, but not about your honor,” he answered and, muttering: “Fishermen for me too,” he turned onto the path. We could hope that the parking lot where the carp was fattening was open; for a good catch - hardly: where are we, really, with our fishing rods. And I had no experience.
In the morning, when the coastal pebbles burned my feet with cold, I took my short donkeys and went upstream, where the ravine went steeply under the water. I looked around. There were cigarette butts lying around. Broken shells glittered like mother-of-pearl. On the trampled small area there are holes from fishing rods. There was no doubt: that unfriendly uncle was fishing here yesterday. The rapids, hitting the sheer wall of the ravine, moved away at a slight angle to the fairway, forming a small pool. The water flowed smoothly and calmly, which indicated great depth. Unwinding my unsightly fishing rods, designed for small change, I shuddered: about fifteen meters away, where the shadow from the ravine ended, a carp jumped out. Then again. And further. Gold bars of fish marked the surface of the water in radiating circles. The breeze carried the whitish wisps of fog into the tuft matted with dew. I cast... And then the end of the rod trembled, bent down, frozen in that position for several seconds. Then he straightened up and nodded smoothly, widely...
I don’t remember how I pulled out the fish. Everything happened as if in a cloud. But this was it, my first carp. I ran along the shore, slipping and stumbling, clutching the fish tightly to my chest with both hands, and shouted triumphantly:
- Caught! Got it!
Now, many years later, I ironically, but with satisfaction, laugh at myself: no, perhaps it was not I who caught the carp, but he caught me, and so that I cannot escape for the rest of my life!
In the Urals there are two types of carp: the migratory carp - the one that rises to the upper reaches from the sea, and the local one. The guest is silvery-pale in color, long, and wiry. His own is the color of red gold with an orange tail fin, humpbacked, high in the back, and shorter. This is a handsome man. He is much stronger, more careful and... fatter than the passing one.
There used to be a lot of carp. They caught him easily and without any exciting sporting interest: just think, he lost it, someone else will grab him! About twenty years ago, the fishing collective farms of the Guryev region were not well equipped technically, and there were not enough people in the fisheries.
Now the picture is completely different. At the mouth of the Urals, day and night, dozens of seines from both banks scoop up fish for spawning. If earlier the carp reached Orenburg, now it does not reach Uralsk every year. There was much less of it in the river. And the more honorable the trophy is when you catch not a skinny, hungry alien, but a violent “master” who is capable of any tricks.
The common bait for carp in May and June is forest worms, of which there are a lot in the local coastal forests, which are flooded during high water. Later, if rainfall is rare and there are few worms, shells of different colors serve as bait: white, yellow, pink, gray with black, reddish. However, the best is considered to be a combined bait: a shell or a piece of fish fillet and an earthworm. At the end of August and September it is good to fish for bread, mainly in creeks where the current is not strong.
The second-ranking fish in the Urals is asp. Who hasn’t seen his robber raids on the little things fattening on the shallows? Who hasn’t admired its powerful splashes in the waters, under the yar? But it is not so easy to catch this wary fish. However, I don’t know how it is in other bodies of water, but in the Urals, catching asp is not that difficult.
I believe that the asp is not picky about bait. In my practice, there has never been a case where he refused a live fish, a frog, a grasshopper, a brush of worms, or a oscillating spoon.
I remember such a case. One day at the end of October, after an unsuccessful fishing trip in a quarry (deep hole), I was returning through the Transshipment Grove. A gusty cold wind blew, and it rained at times. There were steep waves on the river. I don’t remember how I came out onto the coastal sand. Somewhere in my mind it flashed: “My hopes for biting bluegill and bream in the quarry did not come true. Maybe there will be pike perch here? This place has a two-meter depth and a smooth, moderate current. Without thinking for a long time, I baited the bottom with a piece of fish and threw it away. Soon the line tightened, the tip smoothly bent towards the water. Undercut - empty.
I cast again, and again a bite immediately followed. This time I felt that a large fish was resisting in the depths. Who? Pike perch don't behave like that. This is a large-mouthed asp with a golden rim around its eyes. After him, I pulled out another one and that’s it: there were no more bites. Accident? Just a month ago, even two weeks, asps were caught using a spoon, which was thrown under the ravine, where insects fell, and bleaks scurried about in the upper layers of the water. Now the small fry have gone into quiet water, hid in snags, the grasshoppers have disappeared, and the predator has nothing to do here. It is equally useless to look for it on the rifts: it does not chase the fry, does not hit, and does not make itself known. And yet, as it turned out, there are asps in small places, although my trophies at that time could not be considered convincing evidence.
If on a calm day we look at the river from an elevation, we will distinguish yellow and dark spots. These are underwater shallows, alternating with holes. Sometimes the shallows have the shape of an arc, parallel to the shore and sharply plunging into the water. In such places, shallow pits are formed. The ridge of the sandbank (the mane), which slopes gently down to the middle of the river, is clearly visible. Behind the manes are the asp’s favorite places. Here he hunts for minnows.
And so I came here again. Now with spinning. It was a quiet day, and the bottom topography was clearly visible. I made several casts: no chase, no escapes. The spoon lay about a meter further than the ridge. I had to increase the cast from 20 m to 40-50. And as soon as the metal bait touched the water, a sharp jerk immediately followed - breakers appeared on the calm water. So in three hours I caught several asps.
And again doubt: the reason for the luck, perhaps, was in favorable weather - quiet, sunny, and the asp came out onto the sandbank. A few days later I fished in these places again. This time a strong westerly wind was blowing, steep waves were moving across the Urals, heavy clouds hung low above the ground, ready to burst into rain or snow. It had been drizzling all night the night before, and the sands, previously golden, became gray and gloomy. Cold, damp. But the asp still grabbed the spoon. Moreover, it is large - up to 2-3 kg. Then I made another discovery for myself: in the fall, predators do not walk around like in the summer, but stand in one place. And as soon as the lure appears near their camp, one of them rushes at it.
I even mentally drew a circle for myself on the water: hit it - there is an asp, miss - throw it again. The most catchy spoon is a medium-sized one, the “Baikal” type, painted on the inside with red lead. But when fishing with a spinning rod on the sands, you need a certain skill. Don't forget that you are fishing in shallow waters. Immediately after casting, you need to take a few steps back in order to quickly pick up the line that has sagged due to the wind, while simultaneously reeling it onto the reel. At the same time, the rod is raised almost vertically, so that the reel is at chest level.
I love fishing with a fishing rod and spinning rod, but still, in my opinion, fly fishing is the most exciting, fascinating and interesting form of fishing. At the same time, it is important that there is no need to carry around a bunch of fishing rods, main and spare weights for bottoms, bags of worms, shells...
You, of course, have more than once seen ides and chubs leisurely strolling in calm water, in the shade of trees hanging over the water. You just waved your hand, and the fish seemed to melt into the depths. Was:. - and no. I can’t even believe that there were red-feathered beauties standing not far from evil. It is very difficult to catch them with a simple fishing rod in August. The most delicious attachments are useless. And then fly fishing comes to the rescue.
In the evening, before sunset, you hurry into a hollow, densely overgrown with grass: dew appears in the lowlands earlier. And the grasshoppers, whose wings become fluffy, are helpless. Now it’s no longer difficult to quickly fill a jar with them. Over my shoulder is a fish bag, in my hand is a light three-meter fishing rod. That's all the equipment. Convenient, easy.
While it is light, you choose an area (so that there are no bushes on the shore) with shallow depths, with sand, pebbles, and wait. You watch how wagtails, squeaking and flying from hillock to hillock, settle down for the night. Behind them appear crows, silent in the evening. Next are the magpies. Dawn is quite good. Silence envelops you like cotton wool. Somewhere a fox is yapping, an eagle owl is hooting, a large fish is striking. A light wind either brings a wave of tart meadow infusion, or dry heat from the steppe. But in the west a scarlet stripe is already barely noticeable flowing. It's time. You go down to the water. You unwind the fishing line and meter by meter, pull it out strongly so that there are no rings or kinks. Meadow grasshoppers are small, and therefore you put several on the hook. Then you gently tilt the rod back, wait a second or two for the line to fly out to its full length. Swing forward, and about nine meters from you the nozzle falls onto the water. Letting the current pull the line, you pull it towards you, slightly moving it to the side.
The moon rises, and a golden path lies on the river. Nightingales are singing in the coastal forest. And the hand, over and over again, sends a fishing line with a nozzle from behind the back to, downstream, where small things are busy near the shore. Another cast, another... And suddenly a blow! The small fry shivers to the sides. Something alive and heavy is pulling the fishing line. Finally, it dawns on him that there is a fish on the hook. It’s not hard to guess which one: the chub immediately throws itself out of the water; the asp goes into the depths; In its own way, with a short twitch, the ide resists.
The summer night passes unnoticed. Behind us is about three kilometers of road through rubble and steep slopes... After all, when fly fishing it’s like this: you catch one or two ides - and move on. Meanwhile, the sun shows its sleepy eye over the forest, pink fog rises over the river. Sonya. Silence. And fatigue... There are several ides and chubs in the bag. Time to go home. The last mandatory procedure is bathing. Reluctantly you take off your clothes and, after hesitating, rush into the water. There seemed to be no sleepless night or severe fatigue. Refreshed, invigorated, as if the river had poured some of its inexhaustible energy into you, you walk along the road. The way back seems shorter and easier.
The Urals are rich in fish. There is a lot of it in lakes, oxbow lakes, and steppe rivers. You can get to any intended place by bus or car, which now go to all areas of the region.
RECREATION IN THE URALS
There are many oxbow lakes in the river valley. The banks are mostly steep.
The winding bed of the river often changes, as a result it often turned out that villages standing on the river eventually ended up on an oxbow or even far from the water.
There are several reservoirs on the river, the largest and most beautiful among them is Iriklinskoye.
In the past, the Ural was a large river and was navigable. In particular, water transport ran from Orenburg to Uralsk. However, every year in the summer the river becomes shallower, it can be forded, and navigation is a thing of the past. The causes of shallowing mainly lie in the plowing of steppes and the destruction of forest belts.
Scientists and social activists sounded the alarm. Plans began to be developed to save the river, restore its ecosystem and fill it with water, and environmental expeditions were organized every summer. I would like to hope that the river will be saved.
And although the Ural River has lost its navigability, it is quite suitable for tourist rafting. Of course, it is not comparable in beauty to rivers such as Chusovaya or Ai, but here you can have an interesting time and have a good rest.
In some places along the banks of the Urals you can find rocks. The Ural River after Orsk is especially beautiful. Here the river flows into a gorge through the Guberlinsky Mountains, the length of this section is approximately 45 kilometers.
In the Urals you can see such beautiful geological and landscape natural monuments as the Iriklinskoye Gorge, Orskie Gates, the Poperechnaya and Mayachnaya mountains, the Nikolsky section and others. There is good fishing on the river. In the past, the Ural River was famous for sturgeon. At the end of the 1970s, the share of the Ural River in the world production of sturgeon was 33 percent, and in the production of black caviar - 40 percent!.. Unfortunately, now the sturgeon population has decreased by more than 30 times.
The government of the Orenburg region pins its hopes on the development of water tourism on the Ural River. In particular, a water route for kayaks with a total length of 876 kilometers has been developed (from Iriklinsky to Orenburg - 523 km, from Orenburg to Ranny - 352 km). Rafting along this route is designed for 28 days.
However, it is not necessary to go rafting; you can simply come to the banks of the Ural River on weekends, relax after hard everyday life and go fishing.
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
http://prirodaurala.ru/reka-ural/
http://www.orenobl.ru/priroda/ural.php
Wikipedia website.
http://www.inforybaku.ru/rybolovnye-puteshestviya/460-ural-ural-reka.html
http://www.kraeved74.ru/
Ural - a river in the Caspian Sea basin. It flows through the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg regions and Kazakhstan.Until 1775, the Urals were called Yaik.
The source of the Ural River is located atslopes of the Kruglaya Sopka peakUraltau ridge of the Southern Urals11 kilometers west of the village of Aznashevo, Uchalinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Near the source of the Urals there is a watershed between its basin and the basin. Here on the Uraltau ridge is the source of the Ai River, the waters of which flow through the Ufa River and into the Volga.
The mouth of the Ural River is located in Kazakhstan, southwest of the city of Atyrau, through which it flows. The Urals flows into the Caspian Sea.
The length of the Ural River is 2,428 kilometers; it ranks third in length in Europe after the Volga and Danube. The area of the drainage basin, which is located on the territory of the Ural-Emba region, is 231,000 km 2 . Tortuosity coefficient 2.38.
The total fall of the Ural River from source to mouth is 788 meters, the slope is 0.32 m/km. In the section from the source to Orsk the drop is 0.9 m/km, from Orsk to Uralsk - no more than 0.3 m/km and becomes even less below Uralsk.
First, the Urals flows from north to south. In its upper reaches, the Ural is a typical mountain river. Then it flows into the Yaitsky swamp. Flowing from the Yaitsky swamp, the Ural has a valley that in some places widens up to 5 kilometers, then narrows again.
Below the city of Verkhneuralsk, the Ural becomes a flat river. After the city of Magnitogorsk it flows into rocky banks. Flowing through the city of Orsk, the Ural turns sharply to the west. Then it crosses the Guberlinsky Mountains into a gorge 45 kilometers long. After the exit of their gorge, the river valley gradually expands. Having encountered the elevated plateau of the Kazakh steppe on its way, the Urals changes its direction to the north-west. After Orenburg it turns southwest.
Near the city of Uralsk, the valley of the Ural River reaches several tens of kilometers. Below Uralsk, the river makes a new sharp bend and flows from north to south in a wide valley with many oxbow lakes, channels and lakes. In the pre-estuary section, the Ural River is divided into 2 branches: Yaitsky and Zolotoy (navigable).
Settlements.
Many cities, towns and villages were built along the Ural River in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg regions and Kazakhstan. On the Ural River are the cities of Verkhneuralsk, Magnitogorsk, Orsk, Novotroitsk, Orenburg, Uralsk, Atyrau (until 1991 Guryev).
For a detailed list of settlements located on the Ural River, see
Driveways.
There are many access roads to the Ural River from source to mouth. The river flows through the cities of Magnitogorsk, Orsk, Atyrau. The roads not only cross the riverbed, but in most areas they run along the river and very often along both banks.
Main tributaries.
82 main tributaries flow into the Ural River, of which 38 are left, and 44 are right.
The largest right tributaries of the Urals: Maly Kizil 113 kilometers; Big Kizil 172 kilometers; Tanalyk 225 kilometers; Guberlya 111 kilometers; Sakmara 798 kilometers; Irtek 134 kilometers; Chagan (Shagan, Big Chagan) 264 kilometers.
The largest left tributaries of the Urals: Gumbeyka 202 kilometers; Zingeika 102 kilometers; Bolshaya Karaganka (Karaganka) 111 kilometers; Suunduk (Suyndyk) 174 kilometers; Big Kumak (Kumak, Kuma) 212 kilometers; Ory 332 kilometers; Urta-Burtya 115 kilometers; Ilek 623 kilometers.
For a complete list of the main first-order tributaries of the Ural River, see
See the largest lakes and reservoirs in the Ural River basin
Hydrological regime.
IN upper reaches Ural riverIt usually freezes in early November. In the middle and lower reaches, freeze-up begins at the end of November. The Urals opens up from ice in the upper reaches at the beginning of April, in the lower reaches - at the end of March. Ice drift in the Urals does not last long. Congestion is common during ice drift.
The Ural River and its tributaries are fed predominantly by snow. N and snow cover accounts for more than 80 percent of the annual flow of the Ural River. Feeding occurs almost exclusively during the snowmelt period in spring. Rain nutrition has a small share. Relatively high air temperatures and a significant lack of humidity cause significant losses of moisture through evaporation.
In the lower reaches, spring floods are observed from late March to early April, in the upper reaches - from late April to June. In the upper reaches of the Urals there may be small floods in summer and autumn, and stable low water in the rest of the year.
During high water, in the middle reaches of the Ural, the Urals overflows over more than 10 kilometers, and in the delta up to several tens of kilometers. The highest water levels in the upper reaches were recorded at the end of April, in the lower reaches - at the beginning of May. The amplitude of fluctuations in water levels in the upper reaches of the Urals is 3–4 meters, in the middle and lower reaches 9–10 meters, in the delta 3 meters.
One of the main features of the river is the significant unevenness of flow. 80 percent of the Ural River flow occurs in the spring. The average water flow recorded in Orenburg is 104 m 3 /sec, in the village of Kushum - 400 m 3 /sec (maximum figures are 12,100 m 3 /sec and 14,000 m 3 /sec, respectively, minimum 1.62 m 3 /sec and 13, 3 m 3 /sec).
The bed of the Ural River is highly winding and forms a large number of loops. The Urals very often changes the main channel along its entire length. With a small drop in water, the river cuts out new sections for itself. At the same time, deep reservoirs and oxbow lakes remain on both banks.
Due to such variability of the current, many Cossack settlements that previously stood on the banks of the Urals later ended up on oxbow lakes. And residents of other villages were forced to move to new places because their houses were gradually flooded and were demolished by the waters of the Urals.
The Ural Valley on both banks is heavily indented by oxbow lakes, narrow and wide channels, and large and small lakes. During floods that occur in the spring from the melting of snow in the Ural Mountains, all these reservoirs are filled with water, which can sometimes remain until next year.
The width of the Ural River bed increases from several meters in the upper reaches to two hundred or more meters in the lower reaches.
In the upper reaches the bottom of the Urals is rocky. Further in the main part of the channel, the bottom soil is predominantly clayey and sandy. Within the Ural region, the presence of stone ridges is characteristic. Below Uralsk, the river bottom is lined with small pebbles.
Water quality.
The average water turbidity near Orenburg is 280 g/m 3 , near the village of Kushum 290 g/m 3 . In the city of Orenburg, on the banks of the Urals, a complex of wastewater treatment facilities was built. Sewage and sewage water from the city of Orenburg is treated here, after which it is discharged into the Ural River.
The presence of many settlements and cities on the banks of the Urals does not make the waters of this river cleaner.
Ichthyofauna.
The Ural River and its basin are home to many species of fish. The ichthyofauna of the Urals is represented by such fish as pike, bleak, carp, carp, silver bream, bream, crucian carp, roach, asp, silver and gold crucian carp, Volga podust, gudgeon, ide, dace, rudd, tench, river perch, pike perch, firebrand (Amur sleeper), common minnow, common bitterling, common roach, common spined loach, common loach, burbot, small southern stickleback, common ruff, chubak...
Fishes of commercial importance are: sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, herring, pike perch, catfish, bream, carp.
Economic importance.
In the upper reaches of the Ural River, water is used to supply water to cities and many industrial enterprises such as the Magnitogorsk and Orsko-Khalilovsky metallurgical plants. In the lower reaches, water is taken for irrigating fields.
2 reservoirs were created near the city of Magnitogorsk, the Iriklinskaya hydroelectric power station with a reservoir of the same name was built near the village of Iriklinsky, and below Uralsk - the Kushumsky canal and reservoir. The Urals are not very navigable, only on the Uralsk-Atyrau section. There is also a water supply from the river to the oil fields.
The most significant in terms of volume and economic importance in the Ural basin is the Iriklinskoye reservoir.
From this, the Orsko-Khalilovsky industrial complex, the cities of Gai, Novotroitsk and the territory adjacent to the Ural River to the city of Orenburg receive water into reservoirs. The Iriklinskoe reservoir has a useful capacity of 2160 million m 3, which is almost twice the average long-term inflow volume (1220 million m 3). The reservoir is capable of long-term flow regulation with a guaranteed return of 477.4 million m3 water, which corresponds 15.1 m 3 /s. The Iriklinskoe reservoir has a complex purpose. It is used for energy purposes, water supply, protection from flooding of the cities of Orsk and Novotroitsk, irrigation, water quality regulation, and also to meet the requirements of the fishery industry.
In the late 1970s, the Ural River's share of world sturgeon production was 33 percent, and 40 percent of black caviar production.
Tourism and rest.
Border between Asia and Europe
In its upper reaches, the Ural River is a natural water border between Asia and Europe. The border passes in the cities of Verkhneuralsk and Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk region. In Kazakhstan, the border between Europe and Asia runs south from Orsk along the Mugodzhary ridge. The Ural River is predominantly an inland European river; only the upper reaches of the river east of the Ural Range belong to Asia.
In Verkhneuralsk, on the banks of the Urals, a memorial sign “Europe - Asia” was installed.
The source of the Urals is also marked with a special sign and fenced.
Along the Ural River you can look at various geological and landscape natural monuments, such as the Iriklinskoye Gorge, Orskie Gates, Mayachnaya, Poperechnaya mountains, Nikolsky cut and others.
The Ural River is interesting for tourist rafting. In some areas on the banks of the Urals there are cliffs. The Urals are the most beautiful and interesting after the city of Orsk. After it, the river flows through the Guberlinsky Mountains into a gorge approximately 45 kilometers long.
In the Orenburg region, a water route for kayaking with a total length of 876 kilometers has been developed. From the Iriklinsky reservoir to Orenburg - 523 kilometers, from Orenburg to Ranny - 352 kilometers. The duration of the rafting along this route is 28 days.
The abundance and diversity of fish in the Ural River makes it attractive for amateur fishing.
Map of the Ural River indicating its source and mouth
Reference Information.
Name:Ural
Length: 2428 km
Basin area: 231,000 km²
Pool: Caspian Sea
Water flow: 400 m³/sec. (km from the mouth)
Slope: 0.32‰
Tortuosity coefficient: 2.38
Source:Uraltau ridge, Southern Urals,Aznashevo village, Uchalinsky district, Republic of Bashkortostan
Altitude: 760 m
Coordinates:
Latitude: 54°42′10″N
Longitude: 59°25′05″E
Mouth:Caspian Sea, Atyrau city, Kazakhstan.
Altitude: -28 m
Coordinates:
Latitude: 46°53′02″N
Longitude: 51°37′01″E
flows through the territory of Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk and Orenburg regions, as well as through the territory of another country - through the Republic of Kazakhstan up to the Caspian Sea.
The Ural River is the third longest river in Europe (second only to the Volga and Danube). The length of the Ural River is 2428 kilometers, most of the way the river flows through the territory of the Orenburg region (1164 km).
The source is on the slopes of the Kruglaya Sopka peak (Uraltau ridge) in the Uchalinsky region of Bashkortostan. In the upper reaches it is a rapid mountain river, it flows into the huge Yaitsky swamp, accumulates strength in it and emerges as a flat river. The mouth is in the Caspian Sea. The conventional border between Europe and Asia runs along this section of the river.
The ancient name of the river, Yaik, comes from a Turkic word meaning “overflowing, flooding.” Indeed, the river floods during the spring flood, and also often changes its course, “walking” across the steppe. The first written mention was in the 2nd century AD on Ptolemy’s map (called Daix), while in Russian chronicles the first mention of Yaik was in 1140.
This river is one of the few (or maybe the only one in our country?) that changed its name in modern history for the sake of politics. The river was renamed the Ural (after the Ural Mountains) in 1775 by decree of Catherine II while eliminating the consequences of the Peasant War led by Emelyan Pugachev. This war began on Yaik, and the Bashkirs and Yaik Cossacks took an active part in it. In order to erase all reminders of the uprising, the queen ordered the name of this river and Pugachev’s native village to be consigned to oblivion. At the same time, the name of the Yaik River in the Bashkir and Kazakh languages was still preserved.
During the bloody Civil War, it is believed that the legendary Vasily Chapaev drowned in the Urals.
Several reservoirs have been built on the Ural River. The largest and most beautiful among them is Iriklinskoye.
Until recently, the Ural River was navigable all the way to the city of Orenburg. In Soviet times, there was regular water transport between Orenburg and Uralsk. However, due to changing natural conditions (plowing of steppes, destruction of forests), the river has become very shallow and this process continues. Issues of saving the river are discussed annually, and environmental expeditions are conducted. But while the Urals continue to shallow...
Natural monuments
1. The White Stone tract in the floodplain of the Ural River. On the left bank of the Ural River, northeast of the village of Yangelsky. Geological natural monument. On the steep slopes of the Ural River, the White Stone cliffs are exposed, stretching for 150-200 meters. Rocky outcrops of organogenic limestone contain remains of fossil organisms, as well as natural communities, including rare and protected species of lichens, plants and animals.
2. Mount Izvoz. 3 km from Verkhneuralsk, on the right bank of the Ural River. A botanical natural monument, including man-made pine plantings, picturesque rocky outcrops on the top of the mountain, as well as artificial park structures.
3. Kyzlar-Tau (Maiden Mountain). River break Ural near the village Chesnokovka
Ural River in Orenburg. Photo - alexandr-orb
Rafting on the Ural River
The Ural (Yaik) River is suitable for tourist rafting. Of course, in beauty it cannot compete with most Ural mountain rivers, but here you can have a good rest and admire the beautiful scenery. This river is especially interesting for rafting for water tourists in the Orenburg region.
There is excellent fishing, a healthy climate, and air rich in steppe grasses.
In some places in the Urals you can even find rocks. The most beautiful section of the Ural River is below Orsk, where it flows into a gorge through the Guberlinsky Mountains. The length of this section is about 45 kilometers.
The most beautiful geological and landscape natural monuments on the Ural River: the Iriklinskoe gorge, the Orskie Gate, the Poperechnaya and Mayachnaya mountains, the Nikolsky section and others.
Due to the fact that the river often changes its winding bed, many oxbow lakes have formed in the Ural valley. Some of the oxbow lakes are rich in fish. It happened more than once that settlements founded on the banks of the river eventually found themselves far away from it - the river “went away” to the side.
The banks are predominantly steep and clayey.
The largest tributary of the Urals, the Sakmara River, is also interesting for tourist rafting.
Fishing on the Ural River
Fishing on the Ural River will bring a lot of joy. In past centuries and until recently, the Ural River was famous for sturgeon. According to some data, at the end of the 1970s, the Ural River's share in world sturgeon production was 33 percent, and in black caviar production - 40 percent. But now sturgeon in the Urals have become rare. However, the fishing here is good.
There are a lot of fish in the Ural River: sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, pike perch, herring, bream, carp, catfish, pike, chub, crucian carp, beluga, white fish, carp, bream, pike perch, roach, pike, roach, kutum, dace, ide, rudd, asp, tench, podust, gudgeon, barbel, bleak, bluefish, crucian carp, char, burbot, perch, ruff, goby. In general, you are unlikely to be left without a catch!
The Ural, or Yaik, is a river flowing through the territories of Russia and Kazakhstan. This is the third longest water stream in Europe (the Volga and Danube are leaders in this indicator). Its length is 2428 km, and the basin area is 231 thousand square meters. km. The Ural is a river flowing into the Caspian Sea. Its source is located on the Uraltau ridge in Bashkortostan.
When was the Yaik River renamed the Ural?
This happened in 1775, after the Peasant War, the leader of which was E. Pugacheva, was suppressed. Yaik Kazakhs and Bashkirs actively participated in this war. The way the Yaik River is now called is the merit of Catherine the Second - it was she who issued a decree to rename the water stream in order to erase any memories of the uprising.
In general, the name Yaik was first mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1140, and the ancient name of the river, according to Ptolemy’s map, sounds like Daix. This word of Turkic origin means “wide”, “spread out”.
Geography
As already mentioned, the Ural (Yaik) River originates in Bashkiria, on the slope of the Round Hill of the Uraltau ridge. Initially, the water flow flows from north to south, and then, encountering the plateau of the Kazakh steppe on the way, it turns to the northwest. Further, beyond Orenburg, the direction becomes southwestern, and near the city of Uralsk the river bends again to the south. In this southern direction, winding now to the east, now to the west, the Urals flows all the way to the Caspian Sea.
The water drop in the river is not very large: from the upper reaches to the city of Orsk - 0.9 m per 1 km, from Orsk to Uralsk - 30 cm per 1 km, and below - even less. The width of the channel is small, but varied. In the upper reaches, the bottom of the Urals is rocky, under the Uralsk it is lined with small pebbles, but in the rest of the part, as a rule, it is sandy and clayey.
The current is quite tortuous and forms many loops. With a small drop in water, the river often changes its main channel along its entire length, digs new passages, leaving oxbow lakes (deep reservoirs) in all directions. Due to such a changeable current, at one time many Cossack settlements were forced to move to other places, as their homes were gradually undermined and demolished by water.
The climate in the region is mostly continental, with characteristic strong winds. There is relatively little precipitation, no more than 540 millimeters per year, so the river lacks a stable source of water supply.
Between Europe and Asia
Not everyone knows that the Ural (Yaik) is a river that is a natural border between two parts of the world. Geographically, in Russia the border runs in the Chelyabinsk region, in the cities of Magnitogorsk and Verkhneuralsk, and in Kazakhstan along the Mugodzhary ridge. The Urals are an internal European region, only the upper reaches east of the Ural Range can be classified as Asia.
At the same time, there is another opinion on this matter. In 2010, an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society was carried out in Kazakhstan, in the Ustrut desert. The results showed that the Ural River does not divide anything, since it crosses identical terrain, and drawing the border between Europe and Asia along it is unfounded from a scientific point of view. The fact is that south of the city of Zlatoust the Ural ridge loses its axis and falls apart. Then the mountains gradually disappear completely, thus the main landmark for drawing the border disappears.
Shipping
Previously, the river was navigable all the way to Orenburg. During the Soviet Union, water transport operated between Uralsk and Orenburg. However, as a result of constant changes in natural conditions (destruction of forests, plowing of steppes), the Urals became significantly shallower, and this process continues to this day. Every year, environmental expeditions are held here and options for saving the river are discussed. But for now the Urals are shallowing, so now it is not very navigable.
Natural monuments
Oh, how beautiful the Ural (Yaik) is! The river abounds in landscape and geological natural monuments. The most famous of them:
1. White Stone tract. This unique formation is located on the left bank, near the village of Yangelskoye, and is a rocky outcrop of limestone that formed 350 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. Rare species of lichens, animals and plants, and remains of fossil organisms are found here.
2. Mount Izvoz. It is located on the right bank, three kilometers from Verkhneuralsk. This botanical monument is interesting for its picturesque rocky outcrops, man-made pine plantings and artificial park structures.
There are other equally beautiful monuments: Orskie Gate, Devichya Gora, Nikolskie Cut, Iriklinskoye Gorge.
The most picturesque section of the river begins below the city of Orsk, where it flows through the gorge of the Guberlinsky Mountains. Tourist rafting trips are often organized here.
Fishing
The Ural (Yaik) is a river rich in fish: pike perch, sturgeon, catfish, roach, stellate sturgeon, bream, carp, pike, roach, crucian carp, dace and many other vertebrates are found here. In past centuries, the Urals were famous for sturgeon species; they even say that in the 1970s, 33% of the world's sturgeon production was caught on the river. Now such fish have become rare here, but still, fishing in the Urals is good, it’s unlikely that any fisherman will be left without a catch!
It is believed that during the Civil War he drowned in the waves of the Urals (although many versions of his death are put forward to this day, and it is not known for certain which of them is true).
Several reservoirs have been created on the river. The largest is Iriklinskoye.
The Ural is a fast-flowing river; during periods of high water, the current speed reaches 10 km/h.
The source of the Urals is a spring gushing out of the ground at an altitude of 637 meters above sea level. This place is marked with a memorial sign.
The Ural is a river in the Caspian Sea basin. It flows through the lands of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk and Orenburg regions, as well as the Republic of Kazakhstan. Find out where the river flows here.
The length of the river reaches 2.42 km (this is the third longest in Europe after the Volga and Danube). First, the Urals flows from the Bashkir territories to the south. Here the river can be called a mountain one - the flows in the upper reaches are so strong. Then the waters flow into the Yaitsky swamp, from where the Urals emerge wide. In some places the width of the river reaches 5 km.
Crossing Verkhneuralsk, the Ural turns into a typical lowland river, giving way to relief in the Guberlinsky Mountains. Near the city of Uralsk, where the river enters into full possession of the Kazakh steppes, its valley exceeds tens of kilometers. At the mouth, the river divides into two branches - Yaitsky and Zolotoy, on which navigation is organized. Visit the attractions.
Excursion into the history of the Urals
The old name of the hydrogeological object is Yaik. The origin of the hydronym goes back to the ancient Iranian language. The river was designated by Ptolemaic geographers in the 2nd century AD under the name Daiks. The mighty Ural river received its modern name thanks to the decision of Catherine the Great. Pushkin in his history of Pugacheva said that Yaik, according to the decree of Empress Catherine II, was renamed the Urals, since it comes out of the mountains with the corresponding name. The outstanding Russian poet and writer also mentioned that the Ural is the third longest river in the Old World, second only to the Danube and Volga.
The ancient hydronym Rhymnusfluvius is found in ancient European maps. In the chronicles of the Russian principalities, the river was first mentioned in the mid-12th century. Then Prince Mstislav managed to drive the Polovtsians beyond the Volga, Don and Yaik.
Empress Catherine the Great ordered the name to be changed to Ural. In 1775, the Tsarina suppressed large-scale peasant unrest under the leadership of Pugachev. What prompted this decision remains a mystery. However, historians are confident that Catherine II decided to eradicate the story of Pugachev, the Bashkirs and the Yaik Cossacks, who took direct part in the uprising. In the Kazakh and Bashkir languages, the name of the river did not change, but this in no way could influence the popularization of the new hydronym.
The Urals separating two continents
Contrary to popular belief, the upper Ural River represents a natural water boundary between the Asian and European continents. The symbolic border passes in the cities of Magnitogorsk and Verkhneuralsk in the Chelyabinsk region.
In the Republic of Kazakhstan, from a geographical point of view, the border between the continents runs from the city of Orsk south to the Mugodzhary mountain range. Thus, we can say with confidence that the Ural is a European river, and only the upper reaches of the eastern ranges of the Ural Mountains in Russia can be considered Asia.
At the beginning of 2010, experts from the Russian Geographical Society conducted a large-scale scientific study of a river in Kazakhstan. It demonstrated that the symbolic drawing of the border line between the two continents along the bed of the Ural River, as well as along the Emba, is by no means considered the right decision. The whole point is that the Ural ridge south of the city of Zlatoust loses its axis and breaks up into a number of insignificant parts. Further, the mountain range disappears altogether, as a result of which the main landmark by which the notorious border between Asia and Europe is determined disappears. The scientists' conclusion is that the Ural and Emba rivers cannot symbolically share anything, since the terrain through which they flow is identical.
Natural monuments on the banks of the Urals
The nature on the banks of the Urals is as diverse as the river itself. On the left bank, near the village of Yangelsky in Bashkortostan, you can enjoy amazingly beautiful landscapes. It is difficult to find a better place for picnics, fishing and camping in these places. The steep slopes expose the rocky White Stone cliffs, which stretch for 200 meters.
Curious tourists can discover ancient remains of fossil organisms in limestone rocky outcrops. Lovers of rare plants will also have something to do. Rare species of lichens and plants included in the Red Book grow in this part of the Urals. This equally applies to the rich animal world.
3 km away on the right bank of the Ural River rises a mountain with the interesting name Izvoz. The picturesque area with numerous trails for tourists is included in the state nature conservation program. The botanical monument contains: relict plantings, pine forests, rocky outcrops to the top.
Not far from the village of Chesnokovka lies a unique natural site - Kyzlar-Tau (from the Tatars, Devichya Gora). The peculiarity of this area is considered to be the water-eroded layers of red sandstones; hundreds of tourists come to see them. It is believed that girls ran here for round dances and were spied on by daredevil horsemen.
Entertainment on the Ural River
Travelers actively use the mountainous sections of the Ural River for boating. Along the riverbed there are tourist sports centers, from which exciting water excursions along the indomitable streams of the Urals start. In some places you can find rugged rocks carved thousands of years ago. The Ural region below Orsk is rightfully considered the most beautiful part of the trip. Flowing through the gorge through the Guberlinsky Mountains, the river looks fabulous. The surrealism of the picture is reinforced by the absence of tourists.
Worthy of attention: Orskie Gate, Nikolsky section, Iriklinskoe gorge, Mayachnaya and Poperechnaya mountains.
The obstinate river in the upper reaches often changed its course, which is why in Bashkortostan and the Chelyabinsk region you can find ancient remains of abandoned fishing settlements at a comparative distance from the river.