Kirenga River

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Position of Kirenga in the catchment area of the Lena (bottom left)

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Kirenga (Russian Киренга ) is a 746 km long right tributary of the Lena in eastern Siberia (Russia, Asia).

Course

The Kirenga rises in about 1500 meters above sea level on the west side of this area in nearly 2,200 m high Baikal Mountains. The source is only six kilometers from the shore of Lake Baikal; the source of the Lena is a few dozen kilometers to the southwest.

In the upper reaches of the river left Kirenga ( Lewaja Kirenga ) is called, ( Prawaja Kirenga ) united until he, after 50 kilometers with the much smaller Kirenga rights. It first flows in a north-westerly to south-westerly direction through the hill country west of the main ridge of the Baikal Mountains until it turns sharply north. In its further course in predominantly north through the hilly landscape between Lake Baikal and the Lena Kirenga marks the eastern boundary of the Lena - Angara plateau.

The Kirenga finally joins up with the named after her, lying on the headland between two rivers small town Kirensk at 250 m altitude in the Lena. At its entire length, the Kirenga flows through the territory of the Irkutsk Oblast.

The most significant tributaries are Ulkan, Okunaika, Minja and Kutima of right and Chanda from the left.

Hydrographic

The catchment area of ​​46,600 km ² comprises Kirenga. In estuaries near the river reaches a width of up to 300 meters and five meters deep; The flow rate is 1.9 m / s

The average discharge of the village Schorochowo, 18 km above the mouth of 650 m³ / s, with a minimum monthly average of 146 m³ / s in March and a maximum monthly average of 2462 m³ / s in June. Thus it exceeds at the confluence of the Lena easy.

The Kirenga freezes between the end of October / early November and late April / May.

Infrastructure

The Kirenga is navigable for 438 kilometers from the village of Karam.

From the middle reaches there along the Kirenga relatively many smaller towns. Here lie near the river, the urban-type settlements and Magistralny Ulkan and the Rajonverwaltungszentrum Kasatschinskoje. Between Magistralny ( station Kirenga ) and Ulkan follows the Baikal - Amur Mainline to almost 50 kilometers along the riverside. Above the confluence of the Okunaika crosses the railway line the Kirenga on a nearly 350 -meter-long bridge. There are also two road bridges over the river.