Pyana River

Itschalki hydroelectric power plant on the Pjana

Position of Pjana ( Пьяна ) in the catchment area of the Sura

Pjana at Itschalki

Pjana at Perewos

Karst cave near the Pjana above Itschalki

The Pjana (Russian Пьяна ) is a 436 km long left tributary of the Sura in the European part of Russia.

Course

The Pjana rises approximately 230 meters above sea level in the northwestern part of the Volga plate near the village Werchneje Talysino in the extreme southeast of Nizhny Novgorod, about 30 kilometers northwest of the already located in the neighboring Republic of Mordovia small town Ardatow. The Pjana flows through a hilly landscape initially in a westerly to west-north- westerly direction, in the upper reaches on a short section on the territory of Mordovia, otherwise on the whole length in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. When a few kilometers located off the river village Wad, some 30 kilometers northeast of the city of Arzamas, the river turns sharply to an almost opposite east. After a short section in a northerly flow direction he finally flows some 30 kilometers northeast of Sergatsch in the Volga tributary Sura that there marks the border with the Republic of Chuvashia. The mouth is only about 70 kilometers as the crow flies from the source of the river.

The Pjana flows through a narrow in the middle reaches, from the change of direction to the east mostly wide, in many places marshy valley in which they strongly meandering and sections forming a plurality of arms. In estuaries near the Pjana reaches a width of about 50 meters at a depth of 1.5 meters. Where the flow rate is 0.3 m / s

The Pjana has no major tributaries; the most important are Jeschat and Wadok from the left and from the right Pary. In the Valley of Pjana and the surrounding hills are especially on the upper and middle reaches of karst features such as caves and sinkholes common.

Hydrology

The catchment area of the river covers 8060 km ².

The average annual runoff is in close mouth 25 m³ / s, at a minimum 10-12 m³ / s and a maximum of up to 1500 m³ / s From November to April, the river freezes over.

Use and infrastructure

The Pjana is navigable only in the lower reaches for smaller vehicles.

Are the Rajonverwaltungszentren Gagino, Wad, Perewos, Buturlino, Sergatsch and Pilna At the Pjana or in their vicinity. The river is used for water supply and irrigation of agricultural land. At the village Itschalki the middle reaches the end of the 1940s a small reservoir with hydroelectric power station for local energy supply was created. The plant was reconstructed in the 1990s as an alternative energy source and has an output of 203 kilowatts.

From the middle reaches at Wad follows the river almost to its mouth at Pilna the railway line Moscow - Kazan - Yekaterinburg, where they crossed it three times. In Sergatsch it is crossed by the R162 regional road which branches off to the east of Nizhny Novgorod from the M7, via Knjaginino in the south-eastern part of the oblast and on to Porezkoje on the R231, which follows the course of Sura in the neighboring republic of Chuvashia.

History

At the Pjana occurred on August 2, 1377 for the Battle of the Pjana, when a Russian army under the Suzdal - Nizhny Novgorod prince's son Ivan Dmitrievich by troops of the Blue Horde Arab- Shah Muzaffar ( called in old Russian chronicles Arapscha; Tatar Ğərəpşah ) was completely consumed, which latter the way to the looting of the principality of Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan intake of freely made ​​. According to tradition, which is held in the Troitsky chronicle of Sergius Lavra of 1408, the Russian troops were surprised in a drinking bout, which the river's name is associated (Russian pjany for drunk). He probably is but for pien- derived small - from the Finno-Ugric root word.