Chapayevka River

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Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Tschapajewka (Russian Чапаевка, former name: Моча ( Motscha ) ) is a 298 km long left tributary of the Volga River in the European part of Russia.

Course

The Tschapajewka rises in the southeast of the Samara Oblast on the border of Orenburg Oblast in the mountain range of Sini Syrt. From there it flows in a northwesterly direction initially mainly by the intensively farmed southeast part of the Samara Oblast.

Before the confluence of the Wjasowka the river turns in predominantly western directions. About ten kilometers south of Chapayevsk he then pivots to the north. He now begins to meander very strong and has numerous oxbow lakes on.

West of Chapayevsk, the river splits and forms anastomosing river as an inland delta of which extends from Chapayevsk to Nowokuibyschewsk. In this very swampy area the estuaries of Tschapajewka flow into the backwaters and tributaries of the Volga River, which is dammed, shortly thereafter, Saratov Reservoir.

Name

By 1925, the name was still Tschapajewka Motscha ( Моча, stress on the first syllable). The word is a homograph to Моча, the Russian word for urine. In honor of the fallen 1919 Civil War commander of the Red Army Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev received its present name in 1925.