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Volga water basin. Drainage basin On what plain is the Volga basin located?

or catchment area- Part earth's surface, including the thickness of soil from which a river or river network receives water nutrition. The drainage area genetically determines the quantity and quality of runoff, thereby laying down the basic parameters of natural water resources.

Each river basin has surface and underground watersheds. A surface catchment is an area of the earth's surface from which water flows into a river network. An underground watershed is a part of the soil thickness from which water flows underground into the river network. The surface watershed may not coincide with the underground one.

A river that flows directly into the sea or into a closed lake is called the main one; the rivers flowing into the main one are tributaries of the first order, followed by tributaries of the second order, third, etc. Totality main river with all its tributaries it forms a river system. The ratio of the total length of all rivers of a basin (or other territory) to the area characterizes the density of the river network.

Eight of the world's 50 largest river basins are located in whole or in part on Russian territory: the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur, Volga, Dnieper, Don, and Ural river basins.
The largest pool area has river Ob- 2990 thousand km2; the length of the river is 3650 km (from the source of the Katun River - 4338 km, from the source of the Irtysh River - 5410 km). At the confluence with the Ob Bay Kara Sea The Ob River forms a delta with an area of over

IN basin of the Yenisei River(basin area 2580 thousand km2, river length - 3487 km; length from the sources of the Maly Yenisei River - 4102 km) located unique lake Baikal, which together with adjacent territories, including protected areas, is classified as a World Natural Heritage Site.
Square Lena River Basin is 2490 thousand km2. The river, 4,400 km long, originates on the slopes of the Baikal Range, flows into the Laptev Sea, forming a large (about 30 thousand km2) delta.

Most of Amur River basin is located on Russian territory. Cupid is one of largest rivers Far Eastern region (length 2824 km; from the source of the Argun River - 4440 km; basin area 1855 km2). A serious problem of the river is the intensive development of the right bank of the river by the PRC, due to which the load on the ecosystems of the basin has sharply increased in the last decade. Wasteful use natural resources, with a significant difference between Chinese environmental standards and Russian standards, leads to a change in natural resource potential, in particular, to a deterioration in the condition of valuable species of commercial fish, disruption of seasonal migration routes of ungulates and protected species of waterfowl, and changes in the river fairway as a result of uncontrolled excavation work in water protection zone, contamination with harmful substances.
Catchment area Volga River Basin- the largest in Europe - is 1360 thousand km2, that is, 62.2% of the European part of Russia, 8% of the area of Russia, almost 13% of the territory of Europe. 2,600 rivers flow directly into the Volga (length 3,530 km), and in total there are more than 150 thousand watercourses more than 10 km long in the basin. Its largest tributaries are the Oka and Kama rivers. The catchment area of small rivers makes up 45% of the total area of the basin.

One of the largest waterways in the world is the Volga River. Which ocean basin does it belong to? This is the deepest river in Europe that has no flow. It flows into the Caspian Sea, and therefore belongs to its basin. Almost all the way through European part This mighty river carries its waters across the territory of Russia. Many cities and villages are built on its banks. Since ancient times it has been both a breadwinner and a transport artery for people.

Volga river

Which ocean basin does this belong to? water artery, study at school. But not everyone imagines that the Caspian Sea, into which it flows, is internal and has no drainage. And the Volga is the most big river in Europe. It begins on the Valdai Hills near the village of Volgoverkhovye. From a small stream it turns into a mighty full-flowing river and flows into the Caspian Sea near the city of Astrakhan, forming a wide delta. The Volga River's source and mouth are located at a distance of more than three and a half thousand kilometers from each other, so it is conventionally divided into three parts, which differ slightly in hydrological and environmental conditions.

The Upper Volga is the section from the source to the confluence of the Oka River. Here it flows through dense forests.
From the Oka to the mouth of the Kama - middle Volga. This site is located in the forest-steppe and steppe zones.
Lower Volga - from the Kama to its confluence with the Caspian Sea. It flows through steppe and semi-desert zones.

Volga River Basin

About a third of the European territory of Russia is connected with this river. Its basin extends from the Valdai and Central Russian Uplands to Ural mountains, it covers an area of almost one and a half million square kilometers. This full-flowing, mighty river is fed mainly by meltwater. Several large rivers and many small ones flow into it - about 200 in total. The most famous of them are the Kama and Oka. In addition, its tributaries are the Sheksna, Vetluga, Sura, Mologa and others.

At the source, the Volga breaks into several branches. The largest of them is Akhtuba, which is more than 500 kilometers long. But the Volga River carries its waters not only to the Caspian Sea. You can find out which ocean basin this water artery belongs to in any encyclopedia. But people connected it with other seas using canals: the Volga-Baltic and Volga-Don canals are known. And through the Severodvinsk system it connects with the White Sea.

Every resident of our country knows the Volga River. Although not everyone knows which ocean basin this symbol of Russia belongs to. There are a few more interesting facts about this river, which few people know:

Economic importance

The Volga River basin has long fed and provided for the people living on its banks. There are many game animals in the forests, and the waters are rich in fish - about 70 species are found in it. Huge areas around the river are occupied by crops, and gardening and melon growing are also developed. In the Volga basin there are large deposits oil and gas, deposits of potash and table salt. This waterway is also of great importance as a transport route. The Volga has been used for shipping for a long time; huge caravans - up to 500 ships - traveled along it. Now, in addition to this, several dams and hydroelectric power stations have been built on the river.

VOLGA, a river in the European part of Russia, the largest in Europe. Length 3530 km (before construction of reservoirs 3690 km), basin area 1360 thousand km 2 (occupies 65% of the territory of the European part and 8% of the entire territory of Russia).

The Volga basin belongs to the endorheic basin of the Caspian Sea and is entirely located within the East European Plain. It extends from the Valdai and Central Russian Uplands in the west to the Urals in the east for almost 2.3 thousand km.

The Volga originates on the Valdai Hills. In the past, its source was considered different rivers: Runa, Kud, Zhukopa, flowing into the Volga in the upper reaches. At the end of the 19th century, the expedition of D. N. Anuchin established that the Volga flows from a spring near the village of Volgoverkhovye (Tver region) at an altitude of 228 m (a wooden frame surrounded by a terrace was built above the well with the spring).

The Volga is usually divided into 3 parts: the Upper Volga - from the source to the mouth of the Oka River, the Middle Volga - from the mouth of the Oka to the mouth of the Kama River and the Lower Volga - from the mouth of the Kama to the Caspian Sea. During the first kilometers of its flow, the Volga is a stream meandering through wooded and swampy terrain. In its upper reaches, within the Valdai Upland, the Volga flows through the small lakes Verkhit, Sterzh, Vselug, Peno and Volgo.

At the source of Lake Volgo in 1843, a dam (Verkhnevolzhsky Beishlot) was built to regulate water flow and maintain navigable depths during low water periods. The only conditionally natural section of the Volga, about 400 km long, ends near the city of Tver. Below, to the very mouth, the river is completely transformed by hydraulic structures (the largest were built in 1950-60) and represents a cascade of hydroelectric power stations with reservoirs. Between Tver and the city of Rybinsk, the Ivankovskoe (the so-called Moscow Sea), Uglich and Rybinsk reservoirs were created. In the section Rybinsk - Yaroslavl and below the city of Kostroma, the river flows in a narrow valley among high banks, crossing the Danilovskaya and Galich uplands. Further it flows along the Unzhenskaya and Balakhninskaya lowlands. Near the town of Gorodets (above the town of Nizhny Novgorod) the Gorky Reservoir was formed. The main tributaries of the Upper Volga: Tverda, Medveditsa, Mologa, Suda, Kostroma and Unzha (left).

In the middle reaches, the Volga becomes fuller. It flows along the northern edge of the Volga Upland. Above the city of Cheboksary there is the Cheboksary Reservoir. The largest tributaries of the Middle Volga are the Oka, Sura, Sviyaga (right) and Vetluga (left).

In the lower reaches, after the confluence of the Kama (left tributary), the Volga becomes a mighty river. The Kuibyshev Reservoir was formed above the city of Tolyatti. Next, the Volga goes around the Zhiguli Mountains, forming an arched bend Samara Luka. Above the city of Balakovo is the Saratov Reservoir. The Lower Volga receives relatively small tributaries - Samara, Bolshoi Irgiz, Eruslan (left) and Tereshka (right). 21 km above the city of Volgograd, the left branch separates from the Volga - the Akhtuba River, which flows parallel to the main channel. The vast space between the Volga and Akhtuba, up to 40 km wide, crossed by numerous channels and old rivers, forms the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain. The flow of the Lower Volga is regulated by the Volgograd hydroelectric complex.

Flowing into the Caspian Sea, the Volga forms a vast delta. The mouth of the river lies 26 m below sea level. The delta begins at the point where the Buzan branch separates from its channel (46 km north of Astrakhan) and is one of the largest in Russia (19 thousand km 2). There are up to 500 branches, channels and small rivers in the delta. The main branches are Bakhtemir (navigable), Kamyzyak, Old Volga, Bolda, Buzan, Akhtuba. Below the source of the Buzan, a water divider was built to redistribute the flood flow between the eastern and western parts of the delta; this ensures annual flooding (even in low-water years) in its eastern part as spawning grounds for semi-anadromous fish.

Hydrological regime. River system The Volga basin includes more than 150 thousand watercourses over 10 km long with a total length of 574 thousand km. 2,600 rivers flow directly into the Volga and its reservoirs. The left tributaries are more numerous and have more water than the right ones. Most of the tributaries are located in the upper and middle parts of the river; below the mouth of the Kama they are small, low-water, many of them dry up in the summer. Most of the tributaries are typically lowland rivers with wide, well-developed valleys and the asymmetry of slopes characteristic of the Northern Hemisphere. The Volga basin is located in the southern part of the forest zone, in the forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert zones. Most of the basin (72% together with the foothills of the Urals) is located in the forest zone, where 87% of the runoff is formed. Recharge is snow (60% of annual runoff), ground (30%) and rain (10%).

The nature water regime The Volga belongs to the Eastern European type with a clearly defined spring flood, summer-autumn low water, disturbed by rain floods, and stable winter low water. IN natural conditions 55-66% of the annual flow passed in spring, 24-32% in summer-autumn, and 10-13% in winter. The cascade of waterworks on the Volga and its tributaries has a great regulating effect on the water and level regime of the river; the flow has decreased significantly (by 1.5-2 times) during the flood period and the flow has increased during low water, especially in winter.

65% of the Volga's annual runoff is formed in the Kama basin, the Middle Volga basin accounts for 22%, and the Upper Volga - 13% of the runoff. Average annual water flow (m 3 /s): at the Upper Volga beishlot 30, at Tver 180, at Yaroslavl 1010, at Nizhny Novgorod 2970, at Samara 7300, at Volgograd 7500. Below Volgograd, the river loses about 5% of its flow to evaporation. During periods when the annual flow was close to natural, the Volga annually brought about 250 km 3 of water to the Caspian Sea. The range of runoff fluctuations over the period of instrumental observations (since 1881) amounted to 240 km 3 . Thus, in 1926, more than 390 km 3 of water passed along the Volga, and in 1937 - 150 km 3. The longest period of low water was noted in 1933-40. The average annual flow volume for this period was 185 km 3, which is 25% below the norm. A long period of low water occurred in the late 1970s. From 1978 until the end of the 20th century, there was a period of increased water content on the Volga. In 1978-95, runoff increased by an average of 30% compared to the previous low-water period and by approximately 5% compared to the norm. The distribution of the average long-term runoff layer over the territory of the Volga basin is generally zonal in nature. It varies from 250 mm in the northern part to values close to zero in the south. This nature of the distribution of the runoff layer is violated in the areas of the Middle and Southern Urals, where its value is usually higher than zonal values.

The Volga freezes in the upper and middle reaches at the end of November, in the lower reaches at the beginning of December. It opens in the upper reaches in early April, in the lower reaches - in mid-March, throughout the rest of the course - in mid-April. The river remains ice-free for about 200 days, near Astrakhan - about 250 days. With the creation of reservoirs, the ice regime of the Volga changed: in the upper reaches the duration ice phenomena has increased, in the lower regions there are almost every year non-freezing polynyas, which have different lengths depending on temperature and release conditions.

The average annual flow of suspended sediment near Volgograd is 23 million tons. The delta receives an average of 12.5 million tons of sediment, 87% of which occurs in the spring, 11% during low water, and 2% during winter. The average annual turbidity of water in the delta branches is 50-60 g/m 3, the maximum is 100-160 g/m 3 (observed in April - May). As a result of regulation, solid runoff on the Volga decreased by more than three times. The waters of most rivers in the Volga basin belong to the hydrocarbonate class. The mineralization and hardness of water increases from the forest zone to the semi-desert.

Resources and their economic use. The Volga is home to about 70 species of fish, 40 of which are of commercial importance, including the most valuable sturgeon, as well as roach, bream, pike perch, carp, and herring. Decline in the numbers of some fish species in last years associated with deterioration environmental situation, as well as with changes in hydrological and hydrobiological regimes, deterioration of conditions for fish spawning and feeding of juveniles. Previously, more than half of the fish caught in Russia's inland waters and over 90% of sturgeon were caught in the Volga basin. Over the past decades, fisheries productivity has decreased several times. A catastrophic situation has arisen with sturgeon stocks, which is due to poaching throughout the Caspian Sea, as well as insufficient work on artificial reproduction, protection and conservation of sturgeon numbers in feeding and spawning areas.

The total volume of the Volga-Kama cascade of reservoirs is 168 km 3, the useful volume is 80 km 3. Almost all reservoirs are of the flat type with large flood areas. During their construction, over 20 thousand km 2 of highly productive floodplain lands were taken out of use. All Volga Cascade hydroelectric power plants produce approximately 40 billion kWh of electricity per year. There are 37 subjects located entirely or partially within the Volga basin Russian Federation. This is the most densely populated region of Russia, with about 60 million people living here. The Volga basin produces 1/3 of all industrial and agricultural products in Russia, which determines high degree anthropogenic load.

Taking water from natural water bodies basin at the end of the 20th century was approximately 26.5 km 3 /year (10% of the Volga's annual flow and 30% of all water intake in Russia). In the 1990s, water use in the basin decreased by more than 30%, due to a decline in industrial and agricultural production. Largest quantity water (57%) is used for industrial needs, 29% for municipal and household needs, 14% for agricultural needs. Water consumption is distributed unevenly across the basin: the maximum values are in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Astrakhan region And Perm region; minimal water consumption is observed in industrially less developed areas of the northern part of the basin (Perm region and Kirov region) and in the Republic of Mari El.

The discharge of waste and return waters amounted to about 17.5 km 3 /year, of which almost half is polluted wastewater. As a result of anthropogenic impact, the waters of large and a significant part of small rivers in the Volga basin are polluted. The main sources of pollution are wastewater industrial enterprises, municipal and agricultural wastewater. The main pollutants are petroleum products, copper compounds, easily oxidized organic matter. A comprehensive assessment of the degree of pollution of the Volga at the end of the 20th century indicates that the water quality of the river varied from “polluted” to “dirty”, and that of its tributaries - from “polluted” to “extremely dirty”.

Volga is connected to Baltic Sea The Volga-Baltic waterway, with the White Sea - the North Dvina water system and the White Sea-Baltic Canal, with the Azov and Black Seas - the Volga-Don Canal, with the Moscow River - the Moscow Canal. Regular shipping is carried out from the city of Rzhev (over 3200 km). Popular rivers pass along the Volga tourist routes. In the river basin there are the Astrakhan, Volzhsko-Kama, Zhigulevsky, Prioksko-Terrasny reserves, National parks Meshchersky, Samara Luka and other protected natural areas. The largest industrial centers and ports on the Volga are Tver, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Tolyatti, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd, Astrakhan.

I. S. Zaitseva.

Historical sketch. The first mentions of the Volga are found in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC). In the works of ancient authors of the first centuries of our era (Ptolemy and Marcellinus), the Volga is called Ra (‘рα, “generous”). In written Byzantine and Arabic sources, along with this name, Itil, or Etel (“river of rivers”, “ great river"). In the "Tale of Bygone Years" it is mentioned as the Volga (from the Old Russian "vologa" - liquid, water or from the Finno-Ugric "valga" - "bright river"). Geographical position of the Volga and its major tributaries determined its transformation into the largest waterway and determined its most important political and commercial significance. In the Volga basin there were large state entities- Khazar Khaganate, Volzhsk-Kama Bulgaria. In the 9th-10th centuries, the cities of Itil, Bolgar and others played a significant role in the Volga trade, in the 10th - 1st third of the 13th century - Russian cities (Novgorod, Rostov, Suzdal, Murom). The Mongol-Tatar invasion temporarily interrupted contacts along the Volga, except for the Upper Volga basin, where the Novgorod Republic, the Yaroslavl Principality, and the Grand Duchy of Vladimir existed, from which the Tver Principality emerged in the mid-13th century. At the end of the 13th century, the Principality of Gorodets was formed in the Middle Volga. A significant part of the territories in the middle reaches, as well as territories in the lower reaches of the Volga, came under the rule of the Golden Horde, and it arose here largest centers(Barn, New Barn). In the 14th century, the Nizhny Novgorod principality was formed in the Middle Volga. In the 15th century, the heirs of the collapsed Golden Horde became Khanate of Kazan and the Astrakhan Khanate, annexed in 1552 and 1556 to the Russian state. As a result, the entire Volga basin became part of it. This revived Russian trade with the countries of the East. In the 16th-17th centuries, new cities arose - Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), etc. In the 17th-18th centuries, the Volga basin became the main place of action for the rebels during the Razin uprising of 1670-71 and the Pugachev uprising of 1773-75. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Volga basin was connected by the Mariinsky water system with the Neva River basin, which led to the revival of commercial shipping. Large-scale transportation of bread, salt, fish, oil and cotton, timber, metals, etc. was carried out along the Volga. Passenger traffic along the Volga was one of the most developed in Russia, especially before the construction railways. In the 1st half - mid-19th century, the labor of barge haulers was actively used. In 1820, the first steamship appeared on the Volga, and from the middle of the 19th century, steamship communication was widely developed. The largest shipping companies on the Volga were “Along the Volga” (founded in 1843), “Airplane” (1853) and “Caucasus and Mercury” (1858; founded in 1849 as “Mercury”). The cities of Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and others located on the Volga became large industrial centers. Civil War 1917-22, the Volga had an important military-strategic significance, the Volga Military Flotilla (1918-19), the Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla (1918-19), the Volga-Caspian Military Flotilla (1919-20) of the RKKF were based and operated here. Since the 1930s, construction of hydroelectric power stations began on the Volga (the first - Ivankovskaya - was built by 1937). One of the key battles of the Great Patriotic War took place on the banks of the Volga. Patriotic War - Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43.

Lit.: Zaitseva I. S. Low-water years in the Volga basin: natural and anthropogenic factors. M., 1990; Water of Russia. Ekaterinburg, 2000. [T. 3]: River basins; Anthropogenic impacts on water resources in Russia and neighboring countries at the end of the 20th century. M., 2003; Natural resource, environmental and socio-economic problems environment in large river basins / Rep. editor V. M. Kotlyakov. M., 2005.

Hello! The Volga River flows into the Caspian Sea and, accordingly, belongs to the basin of this sea.

The Volga is a river in the European part of Russia, one of the largest rivers on Earth and the largest in Europe.

Length - 3530 km (before construction of reservoirs - 3690 km). The basin area is 1360 thousand km².

The Volga originates on the Valdai Hills (at an altitude of 229 m) and flows into the Caspian Sea. The mouth lies 28 m below sea level. The total fall is 256 m. The Volga is the world's largest river of internal flow, that is, not flowing into the world ocean.

The river system of the Volga basin includes 151 thousand watercourses (rivers, streams and temporary watercourses) with a total length of 574 thousand km. The Volga receives about 200 tributaries. The left tributaries are more numerous and have more water than the right ones. After Kamyshin there are no significant tributaries.

The Volga basin occupies about 1/3 of the European territory of Russia and extends from the Valdai and Central Russian Uplands in the west to the Urals in the east. The main, feeding part of the Volga drainage area, from the source to the cities of Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan, is located in the forest zone, the middle part of the basin to the cities of Samara and Saratov is in forest steppe zone, the lower part is in the steppe zone to Volgograd, and to the south - in the semi-desert zone. The Volga is usually divided into 3 parts: the upper Volga - from the source to the mouth of the Oka, the middle Volga - from the confluence of the Oka to the mouth of the Kama, and the lower Volga - from the confluence of the Kama to the mouth.

Geographically, the Volga basin includes Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Ulyanovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Moscow, Smolensk, Tver, Vladimir, Kaluga, Oryol, Ryazan, Vologda, Kirov, Penza, Tambov, Tula region, Perm region, Udmurtia, Mari El, Mordovia, Chuvashia, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Kalmykia, Komi, Moscow and Atyrau region of Kazakhstan.

The Volga is connected to the Baltic Sea by the Volga-Baltic waterway, the Vyshnevolotsk and Tikhvin systems; with the White Sea - through the Severodvinsk system and through the White Sea-Baltic Canal; with the Azov and Black Seas - through the Volga-Don Canal.

In the Upper Volga basin there are large forested areas, in the Middle and partly in the Lower Volga region large areas busy with grain crops and industrial crops. Melon growing and gardening are developed. The Volga-Ural region has rich oil and gas deposits. Near Solikamsk - large deposits potassium salts. In the Lower Volga region (Lake Baskunchak, Elton) - salt.

The Volga is home to about 70 species of fish, of which 40 are commercial (the most important: roach, herring, bream, pike perch, carp, catfish, pike, sturgeon, sterlet).

General characteristics of the pool

The Volga is mainly fed by snow (60% of the annual runoff), groundwater (30%) and rainwater (10%). The natural regime is characterized by spring floods (April - June), low water availability during the summer and winter low water periods and autumn rain floods (October). The annual fluctuations in the level of the Volga before regulation reached 11 m at Tver, 15-17 m below the Kama mouth, and 3 m at Astrakhan. With the construction of reservoirs, the Volga flow was regulated, and level fluctuations sharply decreased. At the same time, on wide multi-kilometer reservoirs (for example, Rybinsk, Kuibyshevsky) in inclement weather, waves up to 1.5 meters high are formed, to counter which artificial breakwaters had to be built in the waters of a number of Volga ports (for example, Kazan). In addition, due to the rise in level during the creation of reservoirs along low-lying banks in a number of cities, wide and often shallow swampy estuaries and backwaters were formed, and engineering protective structures were built in the form of dams, backup pumps, etc. Volga water temperature in mid-summer (July) reaches 20--25 °C. The Volga opens near Astrakhan in mid-March, in the first half of April the opening occurs on the upper Volga and below Kamyshin, throughout the rest of the length - in mid-April. It freezes in the upper and middle reaches at the end of November, in the lower reaches at the beginning of December; It remains ice-free for about 200 days, and near Astrakhan for about 260 days. The area of the basin is 1360 thousand km².

The Volga basin occupies about 1/3 of the European territory of Russia and extends from the Valdai and Central Russian Uplands in the west to the Urals in the east. The main, feeding part of the Volga catchment area, from the source to the cities of Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan, is located in the forest zone, the middle part of the basin to the cities of Samara and Saratov is in the forest-steppe zone, the lower part is in the steppe zone to Volgograd, and to the south - in the semi-desert zone. The Volga is usually divided into 3 parts: the upper Volga - from the source to the mouth of the Oka, the middle Volga - from the confluence of the Oka to the mouth of the Kama, and the lower Volga - from the confluence of the Kama to the mouth.

The source of the Volga is a spring near the village of Volgoverkhovye in the Tver region. In the upper reaches, within the Valdai Upland, the Volga passes through small lakes - Maloe and Bolshoye Verkhity, then through a system of large lakes known as the Upper Volga lakes: Sterzh, Vselug, Peno and Volgo, united into the so-called Upper Volga reservoir.

In the Upper Volga basin there are large forest areas; in the Middle and partly in the Lower Volga region, large areas are occupied by grain and industrial crops. Melon growing and gardening are developed. The Volga-Ural region has rich oil and gas deposits. Near Solikamsk there are large deposits of potassium salts. In the Lower Volga region (Lake Baskunchak, Elton) - table salt. Inland waterways along the Volga: from the city of Rzhev to the Kolkhoznik pier (589 kilometers), Kolkhoznik pier - Bertul (Krasnye Barrikady settlement) - 2604 kilometers, as well as a 40-kilometer section in the river delta

The Volga is home to about 70 species of fish, of which 40 are commercial (the most important: roach, bream, pike perch, carp, catfish, pike, sturgeon, sterlet).

River ports of the Volga basin are the main water transport centers organizing the transportation of goods and passengers along the Volga River and its tributaries. After the creation of a unified deep-sea transport system and the completion of the construction of the White Sea-Baltic and Volga-Don canals and the Volga-Baltic waterway, they became “ports of five seas”, having access to the White, Baltic, Azov, Black and Caspian seas.

In the middle of the 20th century, the construction of hydroelectric complexes of the Volga-Kama cascade of hydroelectric power stations and the creation of large reservoirs led to the construction of new and reconstruction of old ports, incl. largest in Europe (Kazan, Perm, Astrakhan, etc.), a sharp increase in cargo turnover and passenger turnover of ports.

The main ports of the Volga (from the upper reaches to the mouth, year of construction): Tver (1961), Cherepovets (1960), Rybinsk (1942), Yaroslavl (1948), Kineshma, Nizhny Novgorod (1932), Cheboksary, Kazan (1948), Ulyanovsk ( 1947), Togliatti (1957), Samara (1948), Saratov (1948), Volgograd (1938), Astrakhan (1934). Ports and marinas on the Kama: Berezniki, Levshino, Perm (1943), Tchaikovsky, Kambarka, Naberezhnye Chelny, Chistopol. Other important ports and marinas in the basin: Ryazan on the Oka, Ufa on the Belaya, Kirov on the Vyatka; The ports of Moscow on the Moscow River (Northern, Western and Southern) are of particular importance. The duration of port operation is from 180 days in Perm to 240 days in Astrakhan.

Scheme waterways

Characteristics of the locks of the Volga basin hydroelectric complexes

Characteristics of the largest lakes in the Volga basin

Distances between the main tariff points of the Volga Shipping Company

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