The first city on the Volga, starting from the source. Volga: geographical location

The source of the Volga is amazing a nice place untouched by modern civilization. Here, time seemed to stand still, afraid to disturb and destroy the eternal atmosphere of grace that reigns around. The Volga originates near the village of Volgoverkhovye on the Valdai Upland in the Tver Region.

Where is the source of the Volga

You can get to the Volgoverkhovye from the city of Ostashkov, first along a rather broken road to the village of Svapusche (about 50 km), and from there along the dirt road, the condition of which is much better than that of the asphalt canvas. From Svapusche to the destination is 19 km. Buses do not go to Volgoverkhovye, so you can only get there by private car (geographical coordinates: 57°15`07`` N 32°28`24`` E).

The source of the Volga on the map:

From afar, the Volga River flows for a long time ...

The Volgoverkhovye village is located on a low hill, and under the hill the great Russian river Volga originates from a small swamp.

There are several springs in this swamp. One of them, the deepest, which immediately has a current, was identified as the source of the Volga in the middle of the 18th century. A chapel has now been built over this spring, to which wooden bridges lead. In the chapel itself there is a font where you can plunge directly into the source. The depth here is small: an adult is up to the shoulders.

In 1989, a memorial stone was erected in front of the bridges, which reads: “Traveler! Turn your eyes to the source of the Volga! The purity and grandeur of the Russian land is born here. Here are the origins of the soul of the people. Keep them. Take a look when you leave." This place is located at an altitude of 228 meters above sea level.

The Volga flows out of the swamp in a small stream, only about 50 cm wide and 25-30 cm deep. The water in the newly “born” river is brown due to the peat it contains, but clean and transparent. There is a bucket on the walkways, so if you wish, you can wash yourself with Volga water or fill it in bottles and take it with you.

At 300 meters from the source, a small bridge is thrown over the stream and there is a convenient descent to the stream, so that you can wet your feet in the Volga water. However, the water here is cold even in the heat, not higher than 15 °.

Holguin Monastery

Near the bridge, you can see the remains of a stone dam built by the Olgin convent at the beginning of the last century. The dam is now destroyed, and the monastery itself still exists in the Volgoverkhovye. V Soviet time it was closed, but revived again in 1999.

All that has survived from the monastery to our time is the Transfiguration Cathedral and the wooden church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Services are held here regularly. We just got on religious holiday- St. Olga's Day. At that time, a religious procession was taking place around the monastery, at which there were quite a lot of people for such a wilderness: about 150 people.

Since the residential buildings of the monastery have not been preserved, the nuns live in the village, their houses are easily recognizable by the turrets on the roofs.

Church of St. Nicholas

For a small fee, you can climb the bell tower of the Transfiguration Cathedral and look from above at the source of the Volga (we did not get in, because the entrance was temporarily closed due to the holiday).

You can take a walk in the forest growing near the source of the Volga. There are a lot of paths leading in different directions. Many-voiced bird singing is heard around, butterflies and dragonflies fly.

There is a small market in the Volgoverkhovye, as in any tourist place, where they sell ordinary souvenirs, pies and honey. There is no cellular connection in these places, it appears only at the exit to the highway in Svapuscha. Here, despite the fact that quite a lot of tourists visit the source of the Volga, peace and quiet reign.

After 3 km from its source, the Volga crosses the dirt road along which we drove here. This is no longer a stream, but a small river with picturesque banks overgrown with forest.

Volga is the most big river in Europe and one of the largest rivers in the world. Its basin occupies more than a third of the Russian Plain and, as Tvardovsky wrote, "half of Russia looked into it." The Volga is the mother of Russian rivers, the history and culture of our country is connected with it.

“Mother River Volga”, “a beauty of the people, like a full-flowing sea, like the Motherland, free, wide, deep, strong!” Sung in songs and poems, the Volga is the symbol and soul of Russia.

Map of the Volga with cities, green parking lots and hydroelectric power plants

Name

Until now, the origin of the name of the Volga River remains a mystery. At what time and what people gave it its name?

How has the name of the river changed over time?

• In the 1st century AD, the Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy and the ancient Roman historian Ammian Marcellinus called the Volga the word Ra
• In the 9th century it was called Atel (at different peoples it was called differently: Itil, Etel or the Tatar word Idel), that is, the river of rivers or the great river
• In the "Great Polish Chronicle" the name Bulga appears, which is explained by the residence of the Volga-Kama Bulgars in the Volga and lower Kama basins.
• At the beginning of the 12th century, in The Tale of Bygone Years, the river is already described under the name Volga: “From the same forest, the Volga flows to the east and flows through seventy mouths into the Khvalis Sea.”

Origin of the name of the river:

• The ancient Balts lived in the upper reaches of the river and, according to the Baltic origin of the name of the river, the Latvian valka means “a stream flowing through a swamp”, “a small river overgrown with grass”. This is what the Volga looks like in its upper reaches
• Translated from the Finno-Ugric language, the word valkea means "light" and "white"
• Old Slavonic Vьlga - "vologa" is translated as "moisture".

From the history of the Volga shipbuilding

In the 16th century, after the annexation of Kazan and Astrakhan, waterways to the Urals and the Caspian opened before Russia. The Volga became the main waterway, along which caravans of 500-600 plows transported a variety of goods.

Strug is a flat-bottomed sailing and rowing vessel that served in the XI - XVIII centuries to transport people and goods. Usually its length was 20-45 meters and width - 4-10 meters.

Later, the Volgarians learned how to build the so-called bark, in windy weather they sailed, and in calm weather they were pulled by barge haulers.

The first steamboat was built in 1816 at a factory in the village of Pozhva, located on the river of the same name, a tributary of the Kama. The shipping company began to develop especially successfully after the abolition of serfdom in Russia.

To transport oil, the Volgarians built oil tanker sailboats, and then the world's first iron oil tank barges "Elena" and "Elizaveta" were built. The method of transporting oil in bulk has become widespread throughout the world and is called the "Russian way".

The Volga shipbuilders overtook the masters from the countries of Western Europe - it was on the Volga that a comfortable passenger ship was launched, which has survived to this day without significant changes.

At the beginning of the 20th century, internal combustion engines were first installed on the oil tanker Vandal, running on oil instead of kerosene. The ship "Sarmat" was also improved, and soon the world's first towing ship "Thought" entered the Volga. In 1910, the world's first wheeled passenger ship "Ural" was built at the Kolomna Plant, and the following year the famous screw ship "Borodino" was launched.

Hydroelectric power plants on the Volga

Eight hydroelectric power stations have been built on the Volga, which are part of the Volga-Kama cascade of hydraulic structures. The total capacity of the Volga HPPs is 10 GW (10 million kW), and the average annual electricity generation is more than 40 billion kWh.

• The creation of a complex of hydroelectric power plants was initiated by the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal and its main structure, the Ivankovsky hydroelectric complex, built near the city of Dubna, Moscow Region. The Ivankovskaya hydroelectric power station was launched in 1937, its design capacity is 30 MW (30 thousand kW), the shipping lock is single-chamber, single-line. In 1941, when approaching German troops the equipment of the hydroelectric power station was dismantled and evacuated, in May 1942 the hydroelectric power station was re-launched
• The Uglich HPP with a capacity of 110 MW is located in the city of Uglich, Yaroslavl Region, was commissioned in 1940, the shipping lock is single-chamber, single-line, the length of the chamber is 290 meters, the width is 30 meters
• The Rybinsk hydroelectric complex was built on the Volga and Sheksna rivers, the capacity of the Rybinsk HPP is 330 MW. There are two navigable single-chamber double-line locks, the length of each chamber is 283 meters, the width is 30 meters. The Rybinsk and Uglich HPPs played a significant role in providing Moscow with electricity during the Great Patriotic War
• V Nizhny Novgorod region near Gorodets in 1948-1962, the Nizhny Novgorod hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 520 MW was built. The total length of the dams of the hydroelectric complex is 18.6 km, navigation facilities include four two-line two-chamber locks
• The construction of the Cheboksarskaya hydroelectric power station was carried out from 1968 to 1981, its capacity is 1.4 GW, it is located near the city of Novocheboksarsk in the Republic of Chuvashia, the lock is a two-chamber single-stage
• Zhigulevskaya HPP was previously called Volzhskaya HPP named after V.I. Lenin. It is located above Samara and is the second in the complex of the Volga hydroelectric complex (its capacity is 2.3 GW). The 17-meter drop of the river is overcome by two steps of locks
• Near the city of Balakovo, the Saratov hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 1.29 GW was built, a two-line shipping lock
• Above Volgograd, the Volgograd hydroelectric power station named after the XXII Congress of the CPSU with a capacity of 2.54 GW was built, this is the largest hydroelectric power station in Europe, built in 1952 - 1961, shipping locks are two-line two-chamber.

Historically, hydroelectric power plants have been named after nearby cities,some of which are slightly downstream. From the name of the power plant, the name was also given to the reservoir formed by this power plant and located above. Therefore, Kazan stands on the Kuibyshev reservoir, Samara (former Kuibyshev) - on the Saratov, and Saratov - on the Volgograd reservoir.

Shipping

With the construction of hydroelectric power plants and the formation of reservoirs, the Volga became deep-water, which allows passenger ships to pass through it, as well as most cargo ships from the Caspian Sea to the northern regions of the country.

In silent reproach stands in the water, in the center of the Uglich reservoir, the flooded bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Kalyazin. During the construction of the Kuibyshev reservoir, it was completely transferred from the flood zone to a new location, Stavropol-on-Volga, now the city of Togliatti.

The city of Sknyatin and Korcheva, Balagansk and many other towns, villages and villages were flooded.

In addition, after the construction of the Volgograd hydroelectric power station, sturgeons do not rise above the dam, which led to a multiple decrease in their catch. The dam cut off 80% of the spawning grounds for Russian sturgeon and, despite the creation of special fish elevators and artificial breeding of this species of fish, the number of sturgeon is falling catastrophically.

The Volga is essentially no longer a river, but a chain of nine reservoirs, but despite this, in last years there are difficulties with navigation in the area of ​​the city of Gorodets. On the 40-kilometer section from this city to Nizhny Novgorod, the depths on the ship's course are less than 2.5 meters. In this regard, transport vessels are forced to either underload or reload to other modes of transport, which leads to large economic losses.

Cruises on the Volga

Traveling along the Volga is one of the most popular types of recreation. During the cruise on the ship you will get acquainted with Russian cities, their history and culture, learn a lot of interesting things about the republics and regions located on the banks of the Volga and, of course, see amazingly beautiful places.

There are four million-plus cities along the banks of the river, these are Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Volgograd. During the trip you will get acquainted with the ancient cities of the Golden Ring of Russia - Kostroma and Uglich, as well as the pearl of the ancient Russian cities - Yaroslavl.

The width of the river varies from a stream in the upper reaches to immense dimensions in the middle and lower reaches. Forests are replaced by steppes, and winding sections of the path are replaced by expanses of water.

Almost all Volga cities have travel agencies that organize cruises from this particular city or from the nearest city.

Tourists are offered both short routes (the so-called weekend routes lasting 2-3 days), for example Kazan - Samara - Kazan or Nizhny Novgorod - Yaroslavl - Nizhny Novgorod, and longer ones.

Most ships depart from Moscow. But since Moscow does not stand on the Volga, all cruises from the capital begin with a trip along the Moscow Canal, then they pass along the Volga.

Weekend cruises from Moscow:

• Moscow - Uglich - Moscow
• Moscow - Uglich - Myshkin - Yaroslavl - Moscow
• Moscow - Tver - Moscow and others.

It should be noted that in such cruises you can see only a small segment of the Upper Volga. You can get acquainted with almost the entire Volga, perhaps in the longest cruise Moscow - Astrakhan - Moscow duration 20-22 days. There are also one-way cruises, for example, Moscow - Astrakhan with return by train or plane. Along this route, you can see almost the entire Volga and visit all the major cities on the Great Russian River.

The most popular cities and green sites (listed starting from the upper reaches of the Volga):

• Shiryaevo - green camp in the Zhiguli mountains
• Vinnovka - green parking
• Usovka - green parking
• Nikolskoye - green parking
• Akhtuba - green parking

Main characteristics

• Before the construction of the Volga HPP cascade, the length of the river was 3690 km, at present its length is 3530 km
• The number of inflowing tributaries is more than 200
• The source is located at an altitude of 228 m above sea level, and the mouth is 28 m below sea level, that is, the elevation difference is 256 meters, the slope of the river is 0.07%
• The average speed of the current is small and amounts to 2-6 km per hour.

Source

The waterway of the river begins on the Valdai Upland. Here, on the outskirts of the village of Volgoverkhovye, Tver Region, several springs gush out of the ground, one of which is enclosed by a chapel - this is the beginning of the great Russian river. The springs flow into a reservoir, from which flows a small stream no more than a meter wide and 25-30 cm deep. The height above sea level in this place is 228 meters.

This stream, almost 3.2 km long, flows into the Small Verkhity Lake, then passes through the Bolshiye Verkhity and Sterzh Lakes. The last lake is part of the Upper Volga reservoir, after which the Upper Volga begins.

Upper Volga

From the source of the river to the first city on its banks, Rzhev, is 200 km, then Tver is located and the Ivankovskoye reservoir begins, it is also called the Moscow Sea. Next come the Uglich and Rybinsk reservoirs, after which the Volga turns and flows not to the northeast, but to the southeast.

On the dam of the Rybinsk reservoir, a sculptural composition "Volga" is installed, dedicated to the builders of the hydraulic structure. The height of the monument together with the pedestal is 28 meters. The sculpture depicts a woman greeting passing ships. In her hand she holds a scroll with blueprints, a soaring seagull is depicted below. The inscription on the pedestal: "Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country."

Initially, it was planned to install a sculptural composition by Vera Mukhina "Worker and Peasant Woman" from the side of the reservoir, but since the construction work had not yet been completed by that time, it was installed on a temporary site next to VDNKh.

Above, the largest left tributary and in many of its parameters superior to the Volga.

According to some geodetic indicators, it can be considered that the Volga is a tributary of the Kama, and not vice versa. At the confluence of these rivers, the Kama carries 4300 cubic meters of water per second, and the Volga - only 3100!

Lower Volga

The section from the mouth of the Kama to the mouth of the river itself is considered the Lower Volga. Here are cities such as Ulyanovsk and Tolyatti, Samara and Saratov, Volgograd and Astrakhan.

The largest reservoir on the Volga was built near the city of Togliatti, where the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station and the Kuibyshev reservoir are located, the length of which is 500 km and the width is 40 km.

Moving south, in the Samara region, the Volga goes around the Zhiguli Mountains and forms a bend, the so-called Samara Bend. This is a unique and very beautiful place, full of mysteries and attracting both tourists and scientists.

Downstream is the Saratov reservoir, 341 km long, formed by a dam built near the city of Balakovo.

From Saratov to Volgograd, the river flows in a southeasterly direction. Above Volgograd, a branch separates from it - Akhtuba, which flows in parallel and, together with the Volga, forms a well-known fishing region - the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain.

Above Volgograd, the Volgograd hydroelectric power station and the Volgograd reservoir were built, the length of which is 540 km, and the width is 17 km.

Delta

Below the hero city, the delta begins, the largest in Europe, having a width of 40 km and a length of 160 km. This is a unique area, which includes more than 500 branches, small rivers and channels, where such rare animals as pelicans and flamingos are found, lotus grows. Over the past 130 years, the level of the Caspian Sea has decreased and the area of ​​the delta has increased significantly. Now this unique territory is recognized as a protected area and taken under state protection.

Although today the Volga is not the main highway of Russia due to the development of other modes of transport, its role remains very important. Hydroelectric power stations continue to operate, which make a significant contribution to the country's energy production. The main Russian river remains an important recreational area - along the banks there are sanatoriums and recreation centers, as well as numerous summer cottages. Landscapes do not cease to amaze tourists who went on cruises along the Volga.

Volga. The largest river in the European part of Russia. The largest river in Europe. Stretching from the forests and lakes of the Valdai Upland to the dry steppes and semi-deserts of the Caspian Sea. Unlike other major rivers in the world, this one flows into an internal body of water that has no connection with the World Ocean - into the unique Caspian Sea. And where did the Volga river come from, since when did it exist and how was it formed? How did you look before? Where did it flow? How has its course changed? Where did she fall into?

In this section, we will try to answer these questions.

Paleo-Volga appeared on the surface of the Earth in Neogene period, on the border of the Miocene (began 23 million years ago) and the Pliocene (began, replacing the Miocene, somewhere 5.2 million years ago). The Neogene (the period lasted from 23 to 1.8 million years ago) is divided into the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. That is, the paleo-Volga, the progenitor of the great river, is much younger than the paleo-Don river, whose age is 23-20 million years. Perhaps that Paleo-Volga had predecessors, but these were, apparently, several small rivers.

At the end of the Miocene, the uplift of the east of the Russian Platform (from Tataria to the Urals) due to tectonics began, accompanied by cutting into the bedrock of the valleys of the then rivers. In addition, a trough was formed from Kazan to Volgograd due to tectonic processes. At the beginning of the Pliocene, the main water intake basin - the Caspian Sea - significantly decreased in size and, most importantly, in level (it is interesting to note that the Mediterranean Sea also experienced the so-called Messinian crisis around this time, when it, as a result of interruption of communication with the ocean almost completely dried up through Gibraltar). This time on the border of the Miocene and Pliocene - in relation to the Caspian-Black Sea basin - is called Pontic or simply Pontus. Here, at the beginning of the late Pontus, the sea went into the boundaries of the modern Middle and South Caspian. These factors laid the foundations for the formation of the Paleo-Volga as a huge river.

Further, in the middle of the Pliocene, in the Balakhani time (approximately 4 - 3.5 million years ago; to be even more precise, this is the second half of the Cimmerian, which lasted from 5.2 to 3.5 million years ago), the Caspian in general turns out to be in the bath of the South Caspian, with the water surface level 500 (five hundred!) meters below the modern one. Paleo-Volga, due to the very large difference in height between the initial section and the reservoir into which it flows, becomes a single powerful water stream.

Paleo-Volga began in the Urals paleo-Belaya, continued paleo-Kama and further along the Volga section, the direction of which is close to the modern one. In the area of ​​the city of Chistopol in Tataria, a tributary flowed into that paleo-Volga, starting somewhere from Nizhny Novgorod, although it is possible that it existed even higher. By our time, as you might guess, this is a section of the current of the modern Volga - more precisely, the modern channel is 10 - 15 kilometers away from it to the south. And the main course of the paleo-Volga lies east of the modern Volga and Kama for 75 - 100 kilometers, except for the Zhiguli region, where the paleo-Volga passed next to today's valley. The Volga ended with a delta in the area of ​​the modern Apsheron Peninsula. Now there are huge deposits of oil associated with this powerful sandy-clayey Balakhani, or it is sometimes also called productive, strata.

This is how the Paleo-Volga looked like at the beginning of the Pliocene epoch, 4 - 5 million years ago.

The length of the Paleo-Volga was then the largest in the entire history of the river.

Paleo-Volga did not look like a flat river at all. It flowed in a canyon 2-4 kilometers wide with extremely steep walls. The depth of this canyon reached 400 - 500 meters, and in the upper reaches up to 800 meters. The slope of the bottom was 10 times higher than today's, and almost a mountain stream seethed through the canyon. Sometimes this river is called the "Kinel River", according to the location of the corresponding deposits (the modern Kinel River cuts the deposits of that Volga).

Buried Pliocene valley of the Paleo-Volga (Kinel River) south of Samara. 1 - sandy alluvium with a basal gravel-pebble horizon at the base. This is the paleo-Volga deposits; 2 - upper Pliocene marine clays of the Akchagyl stage. These are deposits of the Akchagyl Sea, which filled the valley of the paleo-Volga; 3 - cover loam; 4 - bedrock. They were sawn through by the river during the cut.

Meanwhile, the Caspian of that time, whose lowering gave birth to the river, began to actually absorb it. The Akchagyl time (named after the Akchagyl mountain in Turkmenistan, where rock layers of this time are represented) began 3.6-3.5 million years ago with a sharp rise in sea level.

The Volga as a river, and its valley as an element of relief ceased to exist. In its place, a narrow bay of the Akchagyl Sea splashed, the total length of which was about 2000 kilometers, and the height of the water surface above sea level (today's) reached 180-190 meters. The bay reached the Belaya River along the Kama, to Vetluga along the Volga. By the end of Akchagyl, this sea became somewhat shallow.

Start Quaternary period associated with the new rise of the Caspian Sea, the so-called Apsheron time (1.8-0.8 million years ago). The sea reached the Volga valley to the present Kamyshin. After the departure of this sea, the Volga valley lay to the west of the previous one - that is, practically in its current place.

Above the city of Kamyshin, where the Apsheron Sea no longer reached, the Volga valley gradually shifted to the west under the influence of the Coriolis force. At the end of the Pliocene and the beginning of the Quaternary, a well-known loop of the Volga, the Samarskaya Luka, formed. It now covers the Zhiguli mountains. The Zhiguli Mountains, located on the western edge of the latitudinally elongated Zhiguli swell, moved up from the depths of the bowels together with the swell much earlier, at the turn of the Eocene and Oligocene (the time boundary between them runs at the level of 40 million years ago). As a result of this uplift, hard limestones and dolomites were found near the surface even much older than the Carboniferous and Permian periods. To the north and south of the Zhiguli were less durable rocks - clays and marls. As a result, the Volga was not able to erode the Zhiguli mountains themselves, but after the retreat of the Akchagyl Sea, it successfully eroded the rocks to the south and north of the Zhiguli, using the valleys of medium-sized rivers that flowed along the borders of the Zhiguli to the north and south. For one and a half to two million years, somewhere at the boundary of the sections of the Quaternary period of the Eopleistocene and Pleistocene, 700 thousand years ago, the Samara Luka took on its current form. The Zhiguli Mountains in our time are the only mountainous landscape on the Russian or East European Plain.

For the last 700 thousand years of history, the Caspian has been experiencing extensive fluctuations - transgressions and regressions. In accordance with the fluctuations of the coastline, the location of the Volga delta also changed. Since that time, deposits of the upper Volga and its tributaries - the Oka, its tributary Moscow and so on - the so-called Venedian alluvium, have already been reliably known. Gradually, the Volga takes on a form close to modern, with the exception of the lower reaches. In addition, the great Quaternary glaciations changed the course of rivers where the ice sheets reached. As a result of their influence, some tributaries of the Volga began to belong to its other tributaries, but these are changes of smaller orders and are characteristic of the upper reaches.

The modern view of the Volga delta was formed approximately as follows.

The Early Khvalynian transgression (up to a level of plus 48-50 meters of absolute height, 15-20, and according to other sources, 40-70 thousand years ago) smoothed out the features of the relief, the sea filled the surface with its sediments, forming a flat plain after retreat. The formation of relief to a large extent began as if from scratch.

Then the sea came again, already in the late Khvalynian stage, 7-5 (sometimes the figure is 15-20) thousand years ago. The Late Khvalynian transgression was smaller in area and level (up to about 0 absolute height).

During the maximum of the late Khvalynian transgression, a low-lying coast with lagoons and bars existed along the eastern slope of the Ergeni. A number of branches of the Volga opened in the sea, forming together the Upper Khvalynsk incised delta of the Volga. One of the main branches was located in today's Sarpa-Davan hollow.

When this Upper Khvalynian Sea was rapidly receding, the river left a kind of hollow relief between the Volga and Ergeny. Flat, barely noticeable depressions stretch for tens of kilometers and fan-shaped branches towards the Caspian Sea. This system of hollows represents the ancient Volga delta, confined to the coastline of the maximum transgression of the late Khvalynian basin. Unlike ordinary accumulative deltas, this delta is incised. Accumulation, that is, the accumulation of sediments, was carried out here only within the troughs themselves. The formation of an incised delta is associated with a rapid decrease in sea level, flatness and shallowness of the coastal strip. The waters of the river, spreading over a slightly inclined surface, in an effort to catch up with the elusive line of the coast, crashed into the Lower Khvalynsk plain, not having time to form a real delta.

The lowering of the level of the late Khvalynsk basin was accompanied by the draining of the flat sandy surface of the seabed and the formation of marine accumulative forms. On the site of the modern delta and the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, throughout the entire Khvalynian period, there was a bay filled with sediments only in the New Caspian time.

During the New Caspian transgression (with a maximum of 4 thousand years ago), as a result of the intrusion of the New Caspian waters into the Volga delta, which was overdeepened in previous epochs of development, a shallow estuary, but far protruding into the land, arose, that is, a narrow bay located at the place where the river flows into the sea; at the same time, the sea floods the mouth of the river and penetrates upstream. Only after the estuary was filled with sediments and the modern Volga-Akhtuba valley was formed, did the outer edge of the delta move beyond the general contour of the coastline.

Steppe Pathfinder

used book "A.I. Spiridonov. Geomorphology of the European part of the USSR. M. graduate School., 1978.", materials by I.V. Proletkin, dissertations by A.V. Petrova, and a number of other authors

The Volga River is the largest and most abundant river in the Russian Plain and the most long river Europe. On the Valdai Hills, at an altitude of 256 meters above the level of the Caspian Sea, the Volga begins its long journey.
A small, unremarkable stream flows out of a swamp overgrown with dense grass, surrounded by dense mixed forest. This is the source of one of the greatest rivers in the world - the Volga. And therefore people come here in a continuous chain to take a sip of water at the birthplace of the great river, to look with their own eyes at a tiny spring, over which a modest wooden chapel is placed.
The Volga water, which came to the surface near the village of Volgoverkhovye, Ostashkovsky district, Tver region, has a very long way to go to the mouth on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea.
In a small stream and a small river, the Volga flows through several lakes: Small and Bolshoy Verkhit, Sterzh, Vetlug, Peno and Volgo, and only after receiving the Selizharovka River flowing out of the lake, it becomes wider and fuller. But the truly full-flowing river Volga appears after the confluence of the Oka at Nizhny Novgorod. Here the Upper Volga ends and the Middle Volga begins, which will flow and collect new tributaries until it joins the Kama, which flows into the Kama Bay of the Kuibyshev reservoir. Here begins the Lower Volga, the river is no longer just full-flowing, but mighty.
Through the Volga in the XIII-XVI centuries. Mongol-Tatar invaders went to Russia, in 1552 the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible took it and annexed it to the Moscow kingdom. In the Time of Troubles in Russia, in Nizhny Novgorod, in 1611, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and the merchant Kuzma Minin gathered a militia to liberate Moscow from the Poles.
As the legend says, on the Volga cliff, later named after him, the Cossack ataman Stepan Razin "thought a thought" about how to give free rein to the Russian people. In 1667, Stepan Razin "with comrades" walked along the Volga on a campaign "for zipuns" in Persia and, according to legend, drowned a Persian princess in the waters of the great river. Here, on the Volga, in 1670, near Simbirsk (today - Ulyanovsk), the motley army of Razin was defeated by the regiments of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
In, in Astrakhan, Emperor Peter I personally founded the port in 1722. The first Russian emperor also dreamed of connecting the Volga with the Don, but the canal was built much later, in 1952.
In 1774, near the city of Tsaritsyn (today - Volgograd, from 1925 to 1961 - Stalingrad), the uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev ended with a defeat from government troops. Here, in July 1918 - February 1919, the Red Army held the later famous "Tsaritsyno Defense" from the White Cossack army of General Krasnov. And from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943, the greatest Battle of Stalingrad in history took place in these places, breaking the back of fascism and determining the outcome of World War II.

For centuries, the Volga served as a transport artery for people, a source of water, fish, and energy. Today, the great river is in danger - its pollution from human activity threatens with disaster.

Already in the VIII century. The Volga was an important trade route between East and West. It is thanks to her that today archaeologists find Arabic silver coins in Scandinavian burials.
By the X century. in the south, in the lower reaches of the river, trade was controlled by the Khazar Khaganate with its capital Itil at the mouth of the Volga. On the Middle Volga, such a center was the Bulgar kingdom with the capital Bulgar (not far from modern Kazan). In the north, in the Upper Volga region, the Russian cities of Rostov the Great, Suzdal and Murom grew rich and grew largely thanks to the Volga trade. Honey, wax, furs, fabrics, spices, metals, jewelry and many other goods floated up and down the Volga, which was then more often called Itil. The very name Volga first appears in The Tale of Bygone Years at the beginning of the 11th century.
After the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Russia in the XIII century. trade along the Volga weakens and begins to recover only in the 15th century. After Ivan the Terrible in the middle of the XVI century. conquered and annexed the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates to the Moscow kingdom, the entire Volga river system ended up on the territory of Russia. The flourishing of trade and the growth of the influence of the cities of Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma began. New cities arose on the Volga - Saratov, Tsaritsyn. Hundreds of ships roamed the river in trade caravans.
In 1709, the Vyshnevolotsk water system, built by order of Peter I, began to operate, thanks to which food and timber were delivered from the Volga to the new capital of Russia - St. Petersburg. By the beginning of the XIX century. the Mariinsky and Tikhvinskaya water systems are already operating, providing communication with the Baltic, since 1817 the first motor ship has joined the Volga river fleet, barges along the river are dragged by artels of barge haulers, the number of which reaches several hundred thousand people. Ships carry fish, salt, grain, and by the end of the century, more oil and cotton.
Construction of the Moscow Canal (1932-1937), the Volga-Don Canal (1948-1952), the Volga-Baltic Canal (1940-1964) and the Volga-Kama Cascade - the largest complex of hydraulic structures (dams, locks, reservoirs, canals and hydroelectric power stations) allowed to solve many problems. The Volga became the largest transport artery, connected, in addition to the Caspian, with four more seas - the Black, Azov, Baltic, White. Its waters helped to irrigate fields in the arid regions of the Volga region, and hydroelectric power plants - to provide energy for multi-million cities and largest enterprises.
However, the intensive use of the Volga by man has led to the pollution of the river with industrial effluents and waste. Agriculture. Millions of hectares of land and thousands of settlements were flooded, the fish resources of the river suffered great damage.
Today, environmentalists are sounding the alarm - the river's ability to self-purify has been exhausted, it has become one of the dirtiest rivers in the world. Poisonous blue-green algae capture the Volga, serious fish mutations are observed.

Volga river

general information

A river in the European part of Russia, the largest river in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Falls into .

Official name: Volga river.
The source of the river: the village of Volgoverkhovye, Ostashkovsky district, Tver region.

Main tributaries: Oka, Kama, Vetluga, Unzha, Vyatka, Sviyaga, Vazuza, Nerl, Sura, Big Irgiz, Akhtuba.

Reservoirs: Rybinsk, Upper Volga, Ivankovskoye, Uglichskoye, Kostroma, Gorky, Cheboksary, Kuibyshev, Saratov, Volgograd.

In the river basin are: Vologda, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Tver, Tula, Moscow, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kirov, Ryazan, Kaluga, Oryol, Smolensk, Penza, Tambov, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Samara, Astrakhan regions, as well as Perm region and the republics of Udmurtia, Mari El, Chuvashia, Mordovia, Komi, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Kalmykia.
Languages ​​spoken in the river basin: Russian, Tatar, Udmurt, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovian, Bashkir, Kalmyk and some others.
Religion: Orthodoxy, Islam, paganism (the Republic of Mari El, where the Mari traditional religion is recognized as the state religion), Buddhism (Kalmykia).

Largest cities:, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Tolyatti, Samara, Syzran, Saratov, Volgograd, Astrakhan.

Main ports: Rybinsk. Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Togliatti, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd, Astrakhan, ports of Moscow.

Ports on the Kama: Berezniki, Perm, Naberezhnye Chelny, Chistopol.

The most important airports: Strigino International Airport (Nizhny Novgorod), Kazan International Airport (Kazan), Kurumoch International Airport (Samara), Volgograd International Airport (Gumrak settlement).

Large lakes of the river basin: Seliger, Elton. Baskunchak, Aralsor.

Numbers

Pool area: 1,361,000 km2.

Population: according to various sources - from 1/3 to 2/3 of the population of Russia, that is, 45-90 million people.

Population density: 33-66 people / km 2.

Ethnic composition: Russians, Tatars, Mordovians, Udmurts, Mari, Chuvash Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Komi.

River length: 3530 km.

highest point: Mount Bezymyannaya, 381.2 m (Zhiguli Mountains).

Channel width: up to 2500 m.

Delta area: 19,000 km2.
Average annual flow: 238 km3.

Economy

Transport features: The Volga is the central water artery of Russia. The Volga is connected to the Baltic Sea by the Volga-Baltic Canal. Vyshnevolotsk and Tikhvin water systems; the Volga-Don Canal connects the Volga with the Azov and Black Seas; the Severodvinsk water system and the White Sea-Baltic Canal lead to the White Sea. More than 3000 km of internal routes. The Moscow Canal connects the Volga with Moscow and is used for navigation, water supply of the capital and watering of the Moscow River.

Hydropower: Uglichskaya HPP, Rybinskaya GRES, Kostromskaya GRES, Cheboksarskaya HPP, Saratovskaya HPP, Volzhskaya HPP. 20% of all hydroelectric power in Russia. About 45% of the industrial and approximately 50% of the agricultural production of the Russian Federation is concentrated in the Volga basin.

Agriculture: grain and industrial crops, horticulture, melon growing, meat and dairy farming, horse breeding and sheep breeding.

Volga(Mar. Yul, Tat. Idel, Chuvash. Atӑl, Erz. Rav, old Slav. Vlga, Kazakh. Edil, Kalm. Idzhil-gol, German Wolga) - a river in the European part of Russia, one of the largest rivers in Earth and the largest in Europe. One of the branches of the lower reaches of the Volga - the Kigach River - crosses the territory of Kazakhstan.
Length - 3530 km (before the construction of reservoirs - 3690 km). The basin area is 1360 thousand km².

Portrait of the Volga

This is not just the largest river in Europe and the fifth longest in Russia. The Volga is a phenomenon of the highest order, a fact of history and culture, a symbol and love of Russia, the mother of Russian rivers, “a beauty of the people, like a full-flowing sea”, sung in hundreds of songs. Everyone visibly imagines how the sharp-breasted boats of the Razin freemen floated out “from behind the island to the core”; who didn’t sing about the cliff, that “only with the Volga alone does he sometimes remember the daring life of the ataman” ...

Its basin occupied more than a third of the Russian Plain. Tvardovsky, who managed to say that “half of Russia looked into the Volga”, wrote how it absorbed seven thousand rivers, “that from Valdai to the Urals they furrowed the globe”, and they were “participating in one family, as if they were branched out along the earth."

Indeed, the system of the Volga tributaries looks like branches of a mighty tree on the map. Only the mouth trunk is almost devoid of branches: in the lower reaches of the Volga, it flows through semi-deserts like a transit river, into which nothing flows. But to the north, the network of branches is so dense that the total length of navigable routes alone exceeds 17 thousand kilometers, and there are also many raftable rivers ...

Who did not think that the Volga is both great and united! But geomorphologists saw that only the river is one, while its valley is extremely heterogeneous and even patchwork. An integral water artery was formed here quite recently, already in the post-glacial period. And before the great glaciations, the waters from the upper half of the Volga basin had a flow to the south and partly to the north, and not at all to the southeast. The river that drained the eastern half of the Russian Plain was Pra-Kama, which flowed directly into the sea. The Caspian was also different - its waters spilled several times up the Prakama gutter, forming distant bays (one of them penetrated even into the valley of the present Kama).

The thrusting of the great glacier more than once rearranged the runoff in the upper parts of the present-day Volga basin. So, meltwater from the area of ​​\u200b\u200btoday's Oka flowed into the Don basin; with the retreat of the glaciers, the flow to the north also partially resumed. Later, part of the Praokskaya system was intercepted by the tributaries of the Pra-Kama, the outflow from here rushed to the east. The narrowing of the Volga valley at Plyos, Cheboksary, and Kazan reminds us of such interceptions today. Only after the runoff was concentrated in the alien and uneven-aged valleys of the modern upper and middle reaches of the Volga than in the Kama, there were grounds to consider the Volga and the Prakama section below the current mouth of the Kama. "Mother of the Volga" - Kama lost the championship to an aggressive daughter and herself turned into a tributary of the Volga.

428 km: Rybinsk stretches for 22 km along the Volga on both banks. At this point, the Volga changes its direction to the southeast. In the Rybinsk region, the Sheksna flows into the Volga and the river section of the Gorky reservoir begins, formed in 1955 as a result of the Volga being blocked by the dam of the Gorky hydroelectric complex near the city of Gorodets. The reservoir was filled in 1955-1957. Its area is 1591 km², length 430 km, maximum width 26 km at the confluence of the Unzha River into the Volga. According to the hydrological regime and navigable conditions, the reservoir is divided into three sections - river, lake-river and lake. The river section stretches from Rybinsk (Rybinsk waterworks) to the Nekrasovskoye pier and has a length of 138 km and a width of 0.6 - 1 km14.

481 km: Tutaev, on the right bank.

516 - 524 km: Yaroslavl is located on both banks of the Volga. In the Yaroslavl region, the Kotorosl River flows into the Volga.

539 km: Tunoshna village, from where the Volga flows to Kostroma in a northeasterly direction.

560 km: Nekrasovskoye settlement, after which the lake-river section of the Gorky reservoir begins. Its length is 194 km, and its width is 3.5 km15.

564 - 568 km: Krasny Profintern settlement, on the left bank.

In the area from Rybinsk to Kostroma, the Volga flows in a narrow valley among high banks, crossing the Uglich-Danilov and Galich-Chukhloma uplands, and then the Unzhenskaya and Balakhna lowlands.

Volga in the Kostroma region

584 km: in the area of ​​the right-bank village of Komintern, the Volga is part of the Kostroma region, its length in the region is 67 km. The Volga is a section of the Gorky reservoir. On the territory of the region, the Volga flows along the Kostroma lowland.

585 km: a new artificially created mouth of the Kostroma River (354 km), in the lower reaches of which the Kostroma reservoir was created in 1955-1956. This is the largest tributary of the Volga in the region.

597 - 603 km: Kostroma is located on both banks of the Volga, here the Volga changes its direction and turns to the southeast. Within the city at 599 - 600 km there is an old bed of the Kostroma River, now it is an additional ship passage leading to the settling and repair point of the port of Kostroma.

611 km: right tributary - the Kuban River, 618 km: left tributary - Poksha.

637 km: Volgorechensk is located on the left bank of the Volga, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich in 1970 - 1973. Kostromskaya GRES was launched - one of the most powerful in Russia (installed capacity 3600 MW).16 In the area of ​​Kostromskaya GRES, the Shacha flows into the Volga on the left.

641 - 642 km: the village of Krasnoe-on-Volga, on the left bank. Here the Volga again changes its direction to the east.

Volga in the Ivanovo region

651 km: The Volga enters the Ivanovo region near the village of Sungurovo, its length in the region is 180 km.

657 - 660 km: on the right bank of the city-resort Ples.

681 km: the Sunzha river flows in from the right.

706 - 711 km: Kineshma, on the right bank of the Volga. On the opposite bank is the young city of Zavolzhsk, which until 1954 was the left-bank part of the Kineshma. Within the boundaries of Kineshma, the river of the same name flows into the Volga.

755 km: the Elnat River flows into the Volga, at the mouth of which there is a backwater, where the cargo fleet is settled and repaired. From the river Elnat begins the lake part of the Gorky reservoir.

770 km: the left tributary of the Volga - the river Nemnda. From the mouth of the Nemnda, the Volga enters the Unzha lowland. At the mouth of the river is the village of Zavrazhye

770 - 773 km: the left tributary of the Volga river Unzha (426 km). In the lower reaches of the Unzha there is a wide flood - up to 26 km.

770 - 775 km: opposite the Unzha River, on the right bank of the Volga, on a bend is the city of Yuryevets - the most ancient city Ivanovo region (founded in 1225). At Yuryevets, the Volga makes a sharp turn to the south.

Volga in the Nizhny Novgorod region

The length of the Volga in the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region is 240 km. The river divides the Nizhny Novgorod region into the low-lying Trans-Volga region (along the left bank) and the elevated right bank (maximum height - 247 m) - part of the Volga Upland. The Volga throughout the entire territory of the region in the northern part is actually the Gorky reservoir, and in the south - the Cheboksary reservoir.

Part of the western border of the Nizhny Novgorod region runs along the lake section of the Gorky reservoir, so it is difficult to determine exactly where the Volga enters the territory of the region, but the first fairly large settlement on the banks of the Volga in the Nizhny Novgorod region is the village of Sokolskoye, 794 km to the left.

805 - 810 km: The Volga includes two left tributaries - Mocha and Lotinka, and on the right bank is the city of Puchezh (810 - 812 km).

820 km: the river Yachmenka flows to the right, and peat deposits begin along the left bank, stretching up to 828 km, where the village of Katunki is located on the right, in the 17th - 18th centuries. here they made the most popular ships on the Volga - barks - single-masted sailing punts.

835 - 839 km: on the right bank is the city of Chkalovsk18. Previously, it was the village of Vasileva Sloboda - one of the centers of bartering on the Volga. In the Chkalovsk region, the rivers Sanakhta (at 839 km) and Trotsa (at 843 km) flow into the Volga.

851 - 853 km: on the right bank is the city of Zavolzhye, 853 - 857 km: on the left bank is Gorodets. In the area of ​​these cities, the Gorky hydroelectric complex is located, which includes a dam 13 km long, shipping facilities and a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 520 thousand kW. In the area of ​​Gorodets, the Volga changes the direction of the current to the southeast.

861 - 873 km: in this section on the Volga there are many riffles, ridges19 and islands. Ogrudki: Kocherginskiye (861 km), Vetlyankie (870 km), Kubentsovskie (872 km), Balakhninskiye (873 km). Islands: Kocherginsky (864 - 866 km), Shchukobor (862 - 866 km), Krasavchik (866 km).

865 - 870 km: on the right bank is the village of Pravdinsk, 871 - 876 km: Balakhna, also on the right bank, the city is located on the Balakhna lowland, rich in peat deposits. Behind Balakhna on the Volga there are still many islands and rifts.

893 km: the water area of ​​the Nizhny Novgorod port begins. The city of Nizhny Novgorod is located on the right bank of the Oka and on the right bank of the Volga, starting from km 905.

905 km: on the right, the Oka flows into the Volga (1480 km) - one of its main tributaries. After the confluence of the Oka, the Volga becomes more full-flowing, the width of its channel increases and ranges from 600 to 2000 m, the region of the Middle Volga begins.

Middle Volga

The Middle Volga flows through the Nizhny Novgorod region, the Mari Republic, Chuvashia and Tatarstan.

The middle Volga is characterized by three main types of banks. The right ones are steep, descending to the Volga with slopes, sometimes forming cliffs at the turn of the river. The left ones are extremely gently sloping sandy shores, gradually rising to a low meadow floodplain, but they alternate with steep clayey or sandy-clayey almost sheer slopes, which in some places reach a considerable height.

Volga in the Nizhny Novgorod region

Below the confluence of the Oka, the Volga flows along the northern edge of the Volga Upland.

911 km: on the left bank, opposite Nizhny Novgorod, there is the city of Bor and the Moss Mountains.

915 km: the territory of Nizhny Novgorod and the water area of ​​the port of Nizhny Novgorod ends. There are also many riffles and islands in the region of Nizhny Novgorod on the Volga, the largest of them are Pechersky Sands (910 - 916 km) and Podnovsky (913 - 919 km).

922 km: on the right bank is the Oktyabrsky settlement, where the fleet maintenance base is located, and in 1960 the first catamaran-type ships were built.

933 km: on the right bank is the city of Kstovo, located in the bend of the river - the Kstovsky knee, in the interfluve of the Volga and Kudma, where barge haulers made a halt. In the Kstovo region, the Volga turns south.

939 - 956 km: many backwaters and islands, the largest of which is Teply (939 - 944 km). Lake Samotovo flows in at 944 km from the left.

955 km: the Kudma river flows in from the right.

956 km: on the right is the village of Kadnitsy.

966 km: the beginning of the Cheboksary reservoir, formed in 1980 by a dam near the city of Novocheboksarsk. The reservoir area is 2200 km², length 332 km, maximum width 13 km (below the mouth of the Veluga River). Due to the fact that the Cheboksary HPP has not yet reached its design capacity, the level of the Cheboksary reservoir is 5 meters below the design level. In this regard, the section from the Nizhny Novgorod hydroelectric power station to Nizhny Novgorod remains extremely shallow, and navigation on it is carried out thanks to water releases from the Nizhny Novgorod hydroelectric power station in the morning. At the moment, the final decision on filling the Cheboksary reservoir to the design level has not been made. As an alternative option, the possibility of constructing a low-pressure dam combined with a road bridge above Nizhny Novgorod is being considered.

993 km: the river Sundovik flows to the right, at the mouth of which lies the town of Lyskovo. Before the formation of the Cheboksary reservoir, it stood on the banks of the Volga, but then the river changed its course and moved away from the Lyskovsky bank, approaching the Makaryevsky monastery and the village of Makaryevo (995 - 996 km). Today, Lyskovo is connected to the Volga by a shipping channel, and Makaryevo is located on the left bank of the Volga.

995 km: Kerzhenets river (length 290 km) - the left tributary of the Volga.

1005 - 1090 km: many islands, backwaters and channels. The largest island is Barminskiy (1033 - 1040 km).

1069 km: right tributary - the river Sura (length 864 km). At its mouth and on the right bank of the Volga is the village of Vasilsursk.

Volga in the Mari Republic

The Volga enters the territory of the Republic of Mari El (Mari Republic) immediately after Vasilsursk. The length of the Volga in the territory of the republic is 70 km.

1103 - 1113 km: the Vetluga River flows from the left (length 889 km) - the third largest tributary of the Volga. With the filling of the Cheboksary reservoir, the mouth of the Vetluga actually dissolved in the waters of the Volga and turned into big bay. 1106 km - the Bolshaya Yunga River flows to the right, at the mouth of which the villages of Troitsky Posad and Pokrovskoye are located.

1109 km: the river Malaya Yunga flows from the right.

1113 - 1116 km: on the right bank is the city of Kozmodemyansk. In the region of Kozmodemyansk, the Volga turns to the southeast.

1138 km: the Sundyr river flows in from the right.

Volga in Chuvashia

The Volga enters the territory of Chuvashia immediately after the mouth of the Sundyr River, the length of the Volga in the republic is small - only 50 km, while in the area of ​​​​the city of Novocheboksarsk and further to the border of the region with Tatarstan, the river flows near the border of Chuvashia with the Mari Republic, sometimes entering the territory of the Mari Republic20 .

On the territory of Chuvashia, the Volga flows along the East European Plain, which is quite swampy in this area, but the Right Bank is still occupied by the Volga Upland.

1145 - 1178 km: there are many shoals on the Volga, among them the Sheshkarskaya shoal (1145 - 1152 km), the Vurnarskaya shoal (1150 - 1156 km), the Maslovsky shoals (1156 - 1159 km), the Cheboksary shoals (1172 - 1178 km).

1165 km: on the right bank is Zavrazhnoye, in the area where the Volga turns east.

1169 - 1172 km: on the right bank is the city of Cheboksary, in the area of ​​​​which the Cheboksarka River flows into the Volga (1172 km).

1178 km: the Kuvshinka river flows from the left.

1185 km: Cheboksary gizrouzel with Cheboksary HPP. The construction of the hydroelectric complex began in 1938, but was interrupted by the war and resumed in 1968, and only in 1980 the construction of the 1st stage of the hydroelectric complex was completed. The design capacity of the HPP is 1,400,000 kW, but it still does not operate at full capacity.

1188 - 1190 km: immediately after the lock of the Cheboksary hydroelectric complex on the right bank of the Volga, the city of Novocheboksarsk is located.

1191 km: the branch of the Old Volga departs from the left.

1192 - 1197 km: Kazin Island.

1197 - 1202 km: Sidelnikovsky Island.

1200 - 1202 km: on the right bank is the city of Mariinsky Posad, also located on the left bank of the Sundyrka River, which flows into the Volga at 1202 km.

1207 km: Bolshaya Kokshaga river flows from the left.

1210 km: on the right bank is the village of Vodoleevo, after which the Volga again turns to the southeast.

1230 - 1235 km: The Volga returns to the territory of the Mari Republic, here on the left bank is the city of Zvenigovo. In the Zvenigovo region, the Volga is crossed by the Urengoy-Uzhgorod gas pipeline.

1253 km: the Ilet river flows from the left.

1257 km: on the right bank stands the city of Kozlovka.

1260 - 1264 km: The Volga again falls into the territory of the Mari Republic, here on the left bank is the city of Volzhsk. In the Volzhsk region, the borders of three republics meet - the Mari Republic, Chuvashia and Tatarstan.

Volga in Tatarstan

The Volga enters the territory of Tatarstan outside the city of Volzhsk, at 1965 km. The length of the Volga in Tatarstan is 200 km. Basically, the river flows through the territory of the East European Plain, but the right bank is located on the Volga Upland.

1269 - 1276 km: on the left bank is the city of Zelenodolsk. Opposite it - on the right bank - the village of Nizhnie Vyazovye.

1275 - 1295 km: there are many small islands on the Volga - Vyazovsky Island, Tatar Griva Islands, Kos Islands, Vasilyevsky Island, Sviyazhsky Islands.

1278 - 1284 km: the river Sviyaga flows to the right (375 km).

1282 km: on one of the Sviyazhsky Islands, in fact, at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga, there is a city-monument Sviyazhsk.

1280 - 1285 km: on the left bank is the village of Vasilyevo - the center of the Raifa section of the Volga - Kama Reserve founded in 1960.

1295 km: on the right bank is the village of Morkvashi Naberezhnye, near which the Kazan road bridge was built in 1989.

1302 km: on the right bank - the village of Pechishchi, on the left - Arakchino. 1305 km: on the right bank - the village of Verkhny Uslon.

1310 km: the left tributary of the Kazanka River flows into the Volga.

1307 - 1311 km: on the left bank of the Volga, as well as along the left bank of the Kazanka, the city of Kazan is located. In the Kazan region, the Volga turns south. Behind Kazan along the right bank of the Volga, replacing each other, the Uslonsky, Bogorodsky and Yuryevsky mountains stretch, and on the left bank meadows grow.

1311 - 1380 km: on the banks of the Volga there are many small villages, towns and villages. On the right bank are Nizhny Uslon (1320 km), Klyuchishchi (1322 km), Matyushino (1325 km), Tashevka (1330 km), Shelanga (1338 km), Russian Burbasy (1356 km), Krasnovidovo (1358 km), Kamskoye Ustye (1380 km). On the left bank are Kukushkino (1311 km), Novoe Pobedilovo (1312 km), Old Pobedilovo (1315 km), Matyushino-Borovoe (1330 km), Teteevo (1357 km), Atabaevo (1376 km) - the center of the Volzhsko-Kama Reserve.

1377 - 1390 km: on the left, the Kama River flows into the Volga (2030 km 21) - the main and full-flowing tributary of the river. There is even a theory that it is not the Kama that will flow into the Volga, but the Volga into the Kama. In hydrography, there are several rules for highlighting main river and its tributaries, the following signs of rivers are usually compared at their confluence: water content; pool area; structural features of the river system - the number and total length of all tributaries, the length of the main river to the source, the angle of confluence; altitudinal position of the source and valley, the average height of the catchment area; geological age of the valley; width, depth, current speed and other indicators. In terms of water content, the Volga and Kama are almost equal to each other, but the Volga is still less (the average annual water flow of these rivers is 3750 m³ / s and 3800 m³ / s, respectively), and at the confluence of the two rivers, the water flow is higher in the Kama - 4300 m³ / s against 3100 m³/sec. In terms of the catchment area to the confluence of the rivers, the Volga is slightly larger (260,900 km² versus 251,700 km²), but in terms of the number of tributaries, the Volga in the territory under consideration is inferior to the Kama basin (66,500 rivers versus 73,700). The average and absolute heights of the Volga basin are less than the Kama basin, because the Ural Mountains are located in the Kama basin, and the ancient Kama valley is older than the Volga valley. In the first half of the Quaternary period, before the epoch of maximum glaciation, there was no Volga in its present form. There was the Kama, which, uniting with the Vishera, flowed into the Caspian Sea. Glaciation led to a reorganization of the hydrographic network: the Upper Volga, which used to give water to the Don, began to flow into the Kama, and almost at a right angle. The Lower Volga even today serves as a natural continuation of the Kama and not the Volga valley22. But this theory is not officially accepted. Therefore, it is more correct to say that it is not the Kama that flows into the Volga, but the Kama Bay of the Kuibyshev reservoir, more than 200 km long, into which the Kama River flows.

After the confluence of the Kama, the Volga becomes a full-flowing, powerful and wide river and the Lower Volga region begins.

Lower Volga

The Lower Volga flows through Tatarstan, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions and Kalmykia.

The Lower Volga flows along the Volga Upland, across the territory of the East European Plain and Caspian lowland. The basin of the Lower Volga to Samara and Saratov is located in the forest-steppe zone, from Saratov to Volgograd - in the steppe zone, and below Volgograd - in the semi-desert. In the lower reaches, the Volga receives relatively small tributaries, and from Kamyshin to the Caspian Sea it flows without tributaries. In the Astrakhan region, when it flows into the Caspian Sea, the Volga forms a delta.

Volga in Tatarstan

1400 - 1425 km: Syukeyevsky mountains stretch along the right bank.

1412 - 1415 km: on the left bank of the Volga is the city of Bulgar, to the south of which in the XII - XIV centuries. was the capital of the Bulgar kingdom (Volga Bulgaria) - the city of Bulgar the Great2324, and now there is a state historical and architectural reserve Bulgar settlement25.

1430 km: on the right bank stands the city of Tetyushi.

1430 - 1440 km: Tetyushsky mountains are located on the right bank, at 1440 km the Kuibyshev reservoir narrows sharply, but then quickly expands again.

1445 km: the Utka River flows from the left, at the mouth of which are the villages of Polyanki and Berezovka.

Volga in the Ulyanovsk region

If you look along the left bank, then the Volga enters the territory of the Ulyanovsk region after the confluence of the Utka river, on the right bank the border between Tatarstan and the Ulyanovsk region is located in the region of 1495 km along its course. The length of the Volga in the region is 150 km. The Volga divides the Ulyanovsk region into an elevated right bank (up to 350 m) and a low left bank.

1468 - 1470 km: the Maina River flows from the left, at the mouth of which the village of Staraya Maina is located.

1495 - 1520 km: Undorovskie mountains stretch along the right bank.

1521 km: Ulyanovsk begins on the right steep bank, called the Crown, and on the left gentle bank. 1527 km: Ulyanovsk bridge connecting the left-bank and right-bank parts of the city. On the left bank, Ulyanovsk ends at 1528 km, and on the right bank it stretches up to 1536 km. On the territory of Ulyanovsk, the Volga narrows to 3 km, but after the Ulyanovsk bridge, the Volga becomes very wide, and below the city it reaches its greatest width - 2500 m.

1536 - 1595 km: Kremensky, Shilovsky and Senchileevsky mountains stretch one after another along the right bank.

1543 km: on the right bank on the cretaceous Kremensky mountains there is Novoulyanovsk - a satellite city of Ulyanovsk.

1548 km: on the right at the mouth of the Tunoshka River, which flows into the Volga, on the Kriushinsky mountains is the village of Kriushi.

1555 km: the left tributary is the Kalmayur River, opposite which on the right bank is the village of Shilovka.

1572 km: on the right bank is the city of Sengilei, in the area of ​​which the rivers Tushenka and Sengileika flow into the Volga. Sengileevskaya Bay serves as a shelter for ships during storms.

1575 - 1577 km: on the left bank is the village of Bely Yar.

1585 - 1598 km: the Bolshoy Cheremshan river flows from the left (336 km). The mouth of the river turned into a large Melekessky bay. On its right bank is the village of Nikolskoye on Cheremshan, on the left - the village of Khryashchevka (1598 - 1599 km). At the confluence of the Bolshoy Cheremshan River in the Melekessky Bay is the city of Dmitrovgrad.

Volga in the Samara region

The Volga enters the territory of the Samara region near the village of Khryashchevka. The length of the Volga in the region is 210 km.

1603 km: on the right bank is the village of Russian Bektyazhka.

1616 km: on the right bank is the village of Novodevichy.

1634 km: the village of Klimovka is located on the right bank.

1640 km: the Aktushi River flows in from the right, near the mouth of which the village of Aktushi is located. In this area, the Volga turns east.

1643 km: on the right is the village of Usolye, located at the mouth of the Usa River (length 140 km), which, at its confluence with the Volga, turned into a wide and full-flowing Ushinsky Bay. Behind Usa begins Samarskaya Luka - a bend of the Volga, enveloping the Zhiguli Mountains. On the left bank of the Ushinsky Bay, 2 mountains rise - Karaulny Bugor and Kabatskaya, on the right - 2 mounds - Ushinsky and Molodetsky, opening the ridge of the Zhiguli Mountains.

1663 - 1673 km: Tolyatti stands on the left bank, and on the right bank the city of Zhigulevsk is the center of oil production and the Samarskaya Luka National Natural Park. In the area of ​​Zhigulevsk and Togliatti in 1951 - 1958, the Kuibyshev hydroelectric complex was built with the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station (V.I. Lenin Volzhskaya hydroelectric power station, from July 1, 2004 - Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station) with a capacity of 2400 thousand kW and an average annual output of 10900 million kW / h . The Kuibyshev hydroelectric complex also includes upper and lower locks and a spillway dam 981.2 m long. The Kuibyshev reservoir was filled in 1955-1957. The area of ​​the reservoir is 6450 km², the length along the Volga is 580 km, the maximum width is 40 km (at the confluence of the Volga and Kama), the average depth is 9 m. The Kuibyshev reservoir is considered the largest on the Volga.26 (at 1665 km of the Volga).

1670 km: after the lower locks of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric complex, the Saratov reservoir begins, formed by the dam of the Saratov hydroelectric complex in the city of Balakovo. It was filled in 1967-1968. The area of ​​the reservoir is 1831 km², the length is 357 km, the maximum width is 25 km, the maximum depth is 28 m, and the average is 7 m.

1677 km: on the right bank is the village of Bakhilova Polyana, and at 1677 - 1683 km the island of Bakhilovsky stretches.

1683 - 1687 km: on the right bank is the village of Zolnoye, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich is one of the peaks of the Zhiguli Mountains - Mount Observer (height 370 m).

1692 - 1698 km: on the right bank, almost one after another, the villages of Solnechnaya Polyana and Bogatyr are located.

1705 - 1708 km: on the left bank is the village of Volzhsky, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich there is a geological object - Tsarev Kurgan with a cut top.

1709 km: the river Sok flows from the left. Here is the narrowest point of the Samarskaya Luka - the Zhiguli Gate. The Volga breaks through here between the right-bank Zhiguli Mountains (Sernaya Mountain) and the left-bank Sokolsky Mountains (Tip-Tyav Mountain). The width of the Volga at the Zhiguli Gates is only 600 - 700 m, initially it was here that the Volga was planned to be blocked during the construction of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station.

1710 - 1725 km: the suburbs of Samara stretch along the left bank: Krasnaya Glinka (1710 - 1714 km), Managerial Town (1715 km), Studeny Ravine (1720 - 1721 km), Polyana im. Frunze (1722 - 1725 km). On 1712 - 1718 km the island Zelenenky (Surny) is located.

1727 - 1737 km: Samara stands on the left bank. In the Samara region, the left tributary flows into the Volga - the Samara River, beyond the mouth of which is the village of Zasamarskaya Sloboda (1738 km). In the region of Samara, the Volga turns sharply to the west, skirting the Zhiguli Mountains.

1735 - 1763 km: there are many large islands below Samara: Rozhdestvensky (1735 - 1746 km), Koroviy (1738 - 1740 km), Tushinsky (1747 - 1753 km), Bystrenky (1752 - 1759 km), Vinnovsky (1758 - 1763 km) . At 1748 km, the left tributary flows - the Krivusha River.

1758 km: Vinnovsky mountains begin on the right bank. They are smaller than the Zhiguli and not so rich in vegetation. The top of the Vinnovsky mountains is Davydova Gora (height 177.4 m).

1765 km: on the right bank is the village of Vinnovka, near which the remains of two ancient settlements (III and V centuries) and the settlement "Stone Goat" (I century BC - I century AD) were found.

1771 km: Ermakovo is located on the right bank, according to legend, founded by Yermak himself.

1774 km: left tributary - the Chapaevka river.

1777 - 1812 km: many islands, including Sredny Island (1777 km), Baranovsky Island (1778 - 1781 km), Koltsovsky Island (1781 - 1788 km), Ekaterinovsky Island (1786 - 1801 km).

1790 km: on the left bank is the village of Vladimirovka.

1792 km: on the right bank is the village of Brusyany.

1796 km: on the right bank is the village of Malaya Ryazan, founded in 1770 by settlers from Ryazan.

1806 km: on the right bank, the village of Perevoloki, located on a narrow isthmus separating the Volga from the Mustache (only 2.5 km long). Barge haulers dragged ships across this isthmus in order to shorten the path along the Volga and not go around the Zhiguli mountains.

1815 - 1817 km: on the right bank is the village of Pecherskoye, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich the Volga smoothly turns to the southwest.

1826 - 1848 km: on the right bank stands the city of Oktyabrsk, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich the Syzran bridge is located, in the 19th century. considered the largest in Europe30, and flows into the left tributary - the Erykla River (at 1836 km).

1840 - 1895 km: there are many small islands on the Volga, the largest of which is Lopatkinsky Island (1850 - 1856 km).

1850 - 1864 km: Syzran is located on the right bank.

1885 - 1888 km: the village of Spasskoe is located on the left bank, a little lower at 1889 - 1890 km - the village of Privolzhye.

Volga in the Saratov region

The Volga enters the territory of the Saratov region along the right bank after the village of Kashpiry, at 1890 km, and on the left bank the territory of the Saratov region begins lower - in the area of ​​the village of Yekaterinovka, located at 1916 - 1917 km. In the Saratov region, the Volga flows along the southeastern part of the East European Plain and divides the region into an elevated right bank (Volga Upland) and a low left bank (the northern part of the Caspian Lowland). On the territory of the Saratov region, the Volga flows already in the steppe zone, the settlements located along the banks are becoming smaller and the distances between them are increasing. The length of the Volga in the Saratov region is 460 km.

1940 km: on the left bank is the village of Skoropochevka, and immediately after it at 1941 km the village of Dukhovnitskoye begins. Opposite Dukhovnitsky on the right bank is the city of Khvalynsk (1942 - 1946 km). It is located at the foot of the chalk Khvalynsky mountains.

1966 - 1967 km: on the right bank is the village of Alekseevka, it stands on the chalk Maiden Mountains, continuing the Khvalynsky.

1974 km: Malyi Irgiz flows from the left, before joining with the Sterekh River. A large bay formed at the mouth of the river.

1990 km: the Saratov hydroelectric complex begins, which was built in 1956 - 1971. together with the Saratov hydroelectric power station in the Balakovo area. Power is 1360 thousand kW, average annual output is 5.352 billion kW/h.

1998 - 2008 km: on the left bank, next to the dam of the Saratov hydroelectric complex, the city of Balakovo is located.

2008 - 2019 km: Devushkin (Desert) large island.

2011 km: after the Saratov reservoir, the Volgograd reservoir immediately begins, formed by the dam of the Volzhskaya hydroelectric power station near the city of Volzhsky. The reservoir was filled in 1958 - 1961. Its area is 3117 km², length is 540 km. The greatest width is 17 km near the mouth of the Yeruslan River, the average depth is 10.1 m.

2025 km: on the right bank is the village of Tersa, in the area of ​​which the Artanikha River flows into the Volga.

2033 - 2037 km: Volsk is located on the right bank, opposite Volsk at 2036 km, the left tributary - Bolshoy Irgiz (length 675 km) flows into the Volga. Below Volsk, on the right bank of the Volga, the Serpent Mountains stretch.

2047 - 2049 km: on the right bank is the village of Rybnoe, below which is the island of Rybninsky (2050 - 2055 km).

2075 - 2077 km: the village of Voskresenskoye stands on the right bank.

2091 - 2095 km: Marks is located on the left bank. Marks Island begins in the Marx region (2092 - 2100 km).

2098 - 2103 km: Bereznyakovsky Island.

2110 km: on the left, the Bolshoi Karaman flows into, practically at the mouth it connects with the Maly Karaman.

2112 - 2180 km: there are many islands on the Volga, including Usovsky (2112 - 2120 km), Tula, Kayukovsky (2118 - 2122 km), Chardymsky (2122 - 2134 km), Verbnyaki (2135 - 2139 km), Voronok (2133 - 2140 km), Kurdyumsky (2141 - 2143 km), Tatar (2147 km), Zeleny (2155 km), Cossack (2170 km) and Shumeysky Islands.

2125 km: Chardym flows to the right, the village of Chardym is located at the mouth of the river.

2149 km: the Kurdyum River flows to the right, at the mouth of which stands the village of Ust-Kurdyum.

2155 km: the village of Shumeyka is located on the left bank, below Shumeyka the Saratovka river flows into the Volga.

2158 - 2168 km: Engels is located on the left bank.

2155 - 2174 km: on the right bank is Saratov, connected with Engels by the Saratov road bridge, built in 1965 and at the time of construction was considered the longest bridge in Europe. The total length is 2825.8 m. The navigable part of the river is blocked by a continuous lattice span structure 710 m long.

2175 - 2177 km: on the right bank stands the village of Uvek, built on the site of the Bulgarian city of Uvek, destroyed by Timur in 1395. The remains of an earthen rampart and ancient stone buildings have been preserved in the village. On the left bank, opposite the village of Uvek, there is the village of Privolzhsky.

2190 km: on the right bank is the village of Krasny Tekstilshchik.

2195 km: on the left bank is the village of Smelovka, next to which Yuri Gagarin landed after a space flight on April 12, 1961.

2225 km: on the right bank on the right-bank rocky Ushye mountains stands the village of Akhmat. Opposite, on the left bank is the village of Privolzhskoye. Below these villages, the Volga overflows and becomes very wide.

2240 km: the Tarlyk river flows from the left.

2257 - 2260 km: on the left bank, the village of Rivne.

2265 - 2268 km: on the right bank is the village of Zolote, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich is the rock "Seven Brothers", on which, according to legend, the followers of Stepan Razin took refuge.

2297 km: on the right bank is the village of Belogorodskoye.

2300 km: Stepan Razin's cliff is located on the right bank - the first stop of the rebellious Razin people.

2303 km: Mount Durman rises on the right bank, where the guard posts of the Razints were located.

2315 km: on the right bank is the village of Shcherbakovka, below which the picturesque mountains of Stolbichi rise with many cliffs and unusual shapes: columns, stone pillars.

Volga in the Volgograd region ====

The Volga enters the territory of the Volgograd region below the village of Shcherbakovka (2320 km), although if you look along the left bank, the Volga crosses the border of the Volgograd region in the Cherebaevo region (2276 km)36. The length of the river in the Volgograd region is 240 km.

2303 km: on the left bank is the village of Krasny Yar.

2319 - 2321 km: the village of Ilovatka is located on the left bank.

2330 - 2333 km: on the left bank is the village of Kurnaevka.

2340 km: Yeruslan flows from the left (length 220 km) - the last large tributary of the Volga. The mouth of the river turned into a wide and long bay of the Volgograd reservoir.

2344 - 2346 km: on the right bank is the village of Nizhnyaya Dobrinka, 8 km east of which is Urakova Gora. According to legend, it was here that the hordes of Batu Khan crossed the Volga River and began Tatar-Mongol invasion to Russia. Prior to the creation of the Volgograd reservoir, the Volga crossed the zero horizontal (sea level) in the area of ​​Nizhnyaya Dobrinka.

2375-2380 km: Kamyshin is located on the right bank, the city is located at the mouth of the Kamyshinka River - the right tributary of the Volga.

2380 - 2384 km: the settlement of Nikolaevsk is located on the left bank.

2398 - 2400 km: on the left bank is the village of Kislovo.

2407 km: Antipovka village is located on the right bank.

2410 - 2414 km: the village of Bykovo is located on the left bank.

2444 - 2445 km: on the right bank is the village of Gorny Balykley, opposite which, on the left bank, is the village of Upper Balykley.

2448 - 2450 km: on the left bank is the village of Niizhny Balykley.

2454 km: the village of Stepo-Razinskoye is located on the left bank.

2473 - 2476 km: on the left bank is the village of Primorsk.

2502 - 2505 km: the city of Dubovka is located on the right bank. Near the city, the Dubovka River flows into the Volga.

2514 km: the right tributary is the Pichuga River, at the mouth of which the village of Pichuga is located.

2528 - 2531 km: on the left bank is the city of Volzhsky, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich is the dam of the Volzhskaya hydroelectric power station (formerly the Stalingrad hydroelectric power station, from September 9, 1961 - the Volzhskaya hydroelectric power station named after the XXII Congress of the CPSU) and the Volgograd hydroelectric complex, built in 1951 - 1962. The installed capacity of the HPP is 2,551 thousand kW, the average annual output is 11,100 million kW/h.38 After passing through the Volgograd junction, the Volga flows to Astrakhan in natural banks.

2532 km: on the left is the beginning of Akhtuba - the left arm of the Lower Volga (length 537 km). The interfluve of the Volga and Akhtuba is called the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain. It lies within the Caspian lowland, its area is 1400 thousand hectares. Throughout its entire length, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, which is 20–40 km wide, is cut through by numerous branches, channels, volozhkas, eriks, and has a lot of shallow lakes.

2532 - 2610 km: there are many large islands on the Volga, including Zeleny (2533 - 2537 km), Denezhny or Zaitsevsky (2535 - 2543 km), Crete (2543 - 2548 km), Golodny (2550 - 2558 km), Sarpinsky, Sareptsky (2568 - 2575 km), Popovitsky (2601 - 2608 km).

2533 - 2575 km: Volgograd stretches along the right bank with the Krasnoarmeisky district, where the Volga turns to the southeast. Opposite, on the left bank is Krasnoslobodsk (2547 - 2551 km). At Volgograd, the Volga Upland ends, the banks go down, and further to the south there is a zone of semi-deserts.

2577 km: the beginning of the Volga-Don navigable canal, opened in 1952 and connecting the Volga with the Tsimlyansk reservoir on the Don. The length of the canal is 101 km.

2594 - 2595 km: on the right bank is the village of Svetly Yar.

2608 - 2609 km: on the right bank is the village of Raigorod.

Volga in the Astrakhan region and Kalmykia

The Volga enters the territory of the Astrakhan region beyond the village of Raygorod, the length of the main channel of the Volga in the region is 550 km. Within the Astrakhan region, the Volga flows through the Caspian lowland.

2615 - 2980 km: there are many islands on the Volga and in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, including Korshevity (2640 - 2646 km), on which there is even a lake Sazanchiki, Saralevsky (2643 - 2660 km), Vyazovsky (2657 - 2661 km), Coal (2675 - 2679 km), Skrynnikov (2677 - 2682 km), Trenin (2682 - 2692 km), Upper Volovy, Volovy (2711 - 2714 km), Crimean Sands (2716 - 2720 km), Vyaznikovsky, Chernoyarsky (2742 - 2745 km), Oblivnoy (2773 - 2778 km), Grachevsky (2781 - 2788 km), Nikolsky, Prishibinsky (2817 - 2821 km), Tsagan-Amansky (2838 - 2842 km), Upper Kopanovsky (2842 - 2846 km), Enotaevsky (2887 - 2892 km), Shaposhnikovsky (2889 - 2903 km), Konstantinovsky (2911 - 2918 km), Selitrenny, Gusiny (2969 - 2979 km).

2622 km: Bulgakov village is located on the left bank.

2662 - 2667 km: on the left bank is the village of Sadovoe. Opposite, on the right bank is the village of Kamenny Yar (2664 - 2665 km). Below Kamenny Yar, Akhtuba almost comes close to the Volga. The floodplain between them is cut through by a wide Dairy duct (Volozhka).

2743 - 2745 km: on the right bank is the village of Cherny Yar.

2760 - 2762 km: on the right bank is the village of Salt Zaimishche.

2794 - 2796 km: on the right bank is the village of Nikolskoye, below which the zone of semi-deserts and deserts begins.

2824 km: on the right bank is the village of Vetlyanka, behind which a small section of Kalmykia begins at 2830 - 2831 km: the length of the Volga through the territory of the republic is only 12 km.

2834 - 2838 km: on the right bank is the Kalmyk village of Tsagan-Aman, and 1 km below the village of Tsagan-Bulg.

2850: on the right bank stands the village of Kopanovka, above which the territory of the Astrakhan region begins again.

2889 - 2991 km: on the right bank is the village of Enotayeka, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich the Enotaevsky branch begins.

2943 - 2944 km: on the right bank is the village of Volzhsky.

2949 km: on the left bank stands the village of Rechnoye.

2982 - 2984 km: on the left bank is the village of Baranovka.

2987 - 2988 km: on the right bank is the village of Verkhnelebyazhe, which is the border between the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain and the Volga delta. Below the village, the first large branch of the delta - Buzan (at 2990 km) departs to the left.

The Volga delta occupies an area of ​​19 thousand km², the distance between the westernmost and easternmost branches is 170 km. The Volga Delta is divided into zones: upper, middle and lower. The upper and middle zones are small islands with a distance between them of 7 - 18 m. The lower one has an intensive branching of channels (about 800) and passes into a kulchut (semi-flooded) zone, consisting of many channels - shallow water bodies and spits with depths of 0.5 - 1.5 m. In the Volga delta (upper and middle zones), there are up to 500 branches, channels and small rivers. The main branches besides Buzan are Bakhtemir, Staraya Volga, Bolda, Akhtuba.40. In 1919, Astrakhan was created in the Volga Delta. state reserve(area 62.4 thousand hectares).

2990 - 2994 km: Astrakhan water divider (commissioned in 1977), blocking the Volga bed in such a way that 1/3 of the flow passes along the Volga, and 2/3 is directed along the Buzan River and floods the eastern part of the delta - the main breeding ground for semi-anadromous fish . The water divider consists of a reinforced concrete dam, shipping and fish passage locks, two spans with lifting gates and an earthen dam.

2994 - 2996 km: the city of Narimanov is located on the right bank.

3033 - 3034 km: on the right bank there is the village of Karantinnoye, 5 km to the west of which lies Lake Tinaki, where a mud treatment resort is located, opened in 1820

3035 - 3037 km: on the right bank is located the village of Privolzhsky, which is part of Astrakhan.

3038 km: The Volga is divided into three branches Trusovsky, City and the left branch Krivaya Bolda.

3039 - 3053 km: Astrakhan stretches along the Trusovsky and City branches. City Island (3039 - 3043 km) is located within the city. The central part of the city (located along the City sleeve) with the right-bank Trusovsky district (located along the Trusovsky sleeve) is connected by the Astrakhan road bridge built in 1989 (length 3536 m). Below Astrakhan, the Volga turns southwest.

3053 km: the left branch of the Kizan departs.

3060 km: the right branch of Bakhtemir departs. Through this branch and the Volga-Caspian Canal, navigation is carried out to the Caspian Sea.

3062 km: on the right bank is the Volga-Caspian settlement.

3070 - 3072 km: Nikolskoye is located on the right bank.

3077 km: the left branch of Kanych is separated.

3078 km: Khmelevka is located on the left bank.

3093 - 3097 km: on the left bank there is the village of Samosdelka, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich the right branch of Somovka is separated.

3100 - 3157 km: a number of small branches separate from the Volga, the river flows into the Caspian Sea, having become much shallower.

The most famous Volga landscape is the bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kalyazin. When filling the Uglich reservoir, the cathedral and the bell tower fell into the flood zone, the cathedral built in 1694 was dismantled, and the bell tower of 1800 remained on the island and became the main attraction of the city.

Nizhny Novgorod Region. Volga near Chkalovsk. The shore of the Gorky reservoir