Moksha River
The mouth of the Zna (right) in the Moksha
Sanaksar monastery at the Moksha - shore at Temnikov
Position of Moksha ( Мокша ) in the southeastern basin of the Oka
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
The Moksha (Russian Мокша, Moksha - Mordvin Йов / Jow ) is a 656 km long right tributary of the Oka in Central Russia.
As the river is also called one of the two major ethnic groups of the Mordvins which the same dialect of the Mordovian language, Mokschanische, speak, which is partly viewed as a separate language. The Moksha - Mordvins settle mainly in the catchment area of Moksha.
Course
The Moksha rises at an altitude of about 240 m in the north- western part of the Volga plate, about 35 kilometers west of the city of Penza. First, it flows through, mostly in northern and western directions, the hilly area of the Volga plate; in the lower reaches it reaches the Oka - Don - level and leads eventually some 30 kilometers southeast of Kasimov in the Oka.
The river flows first through the Penza Oblast, the Republic of Mordovia ( sections along its border with Nizhny Novgorod Oblast ) and in the lower reaches of the Ryazan Oblast. Right on the river are the towns Kowylkino, Krasnoslobodsk and Temnikov, in the catchment area among other things, the city of Tambov.
Above the mouth of the river is about 100 feet wide and three feet deep; its flow rate here is 0.2 m / s
Hydrography
The catchment area comprises 51,000 km ² of Moksha.
The Moksha freezes between November / early December and April. Their average monthly water flow is 72 kilometers above the mouth of 95 m³ / s ( minimum in winter 8.5 m³ / s, maximum during snowmelt in April 2360 m³ / s). In the lower reaches of the flood usually lasts until May.
The main tributaries are from right Issa, Siwin, Satis and Jermisch, from left ATMIS, Wad and Zna, by far the most important tributary, which also significantly longer than the Moksha itself.
Attractions
Three kilometers northwest of the city lies on the left bank of the Temnikov Mokascha founded in 1659 Sanaksar - Virgin - Birth Monastery ( Рождество - Богородичный Санаксарский монастырь / Roschdestwo - Bogoroditschny Sanaksarski monastyr ), which was in the 18th century the most important religious centers of Russia.
Economy and infrastructure
The lower reaches of Moksha is to Kadom navigable, but is no longer traveled regularly since the mid 1990s.
At the Moksha several small water power stations were built in the 1950s. The largest was in 1955 opened about two kilometers below the Zna estuary and equipped with the only locks to ensure vessel traffic to Kadom and on the Zna.
In the area of Mokschaquelle extend the railway line Ryazhsk - Pensa - Sysran and the oil pipeline friendship. In Kowylkino the railway line Moscow - Ryazan - Rusajewka - Sysran crossing the river.
In the settlement Mokschan the M5 highway Moscow - Samara Chelyabinsk crosses the headwaters of the river, regional roads cross it, inter alia, at Krasnoslobodsk and Temnikov.