Vilyuy

File:Vilyuy River Dam Chernyshevsky.jpg

Vilyuy Dam and a hydroelectric station on the river

The Vilyuy (Template:Lang-rus; Template:Langx, Bülüü, ) is a river in Russia, the longest tributary of the Lena. About long, it flows mostly within the Sakha Republic. Its basin covers about .

History

The river is first mentioned in the 17th century in connection with the Russian conquest of Siberia.

In the 1950s, diamond deposits were discovered in the area, about from its mouth. This led to the construction of the Mir Mine, together with access roads and an airport, and the Vilyuy Dam complex to generate power needed for the diamond concentrators.

Geography

The Vilyuy has its sources in the Vilyuy Plateau, part of the Central Siberian Plateau, in the Evenkiysky District (Krasnoyarsk Krai) and, flowing east, soon enters Sakha. It turns towards the south and southeast in the Central Yakutian Lowland, then back towards the east, and finally enters the Lena about downstream of Yakutsk, near Sangar. The Ust-Vilyuy Range rises above the facing bank of the Lena, opposite the mouth of the Vilyuy.

To the west of the Vilyuy and Chona is the Nizhnyaya Tunguska basin. The Vilyuy basin is sparsely populated. Small settlements along the river include Vilyuysk, Verkhnevilyuysk, Suntar, Ekonda and Nyurba.

Tributaries

The main tributaries of the Vilyuy are the Ulakhan-Vava, Chirkuo, Chona, Chybyda, Ulakhan-Botuobuya, Ochchuguy-Botuobuya, Template:Ill, Kempendyay, Tonguo and Bappagay on the right; and the Sen, Lakharchana, Akhtaranda, Ygyatta, Markha, Tyukyan, and Tyung on the left.

Geology

Vilyuy is associated with geological formations Yakutsk-Vilyuy Rift (Vilyuy Rift Basin) and Yakutsk-Vilyuy LIP (large igneous province), also known as Vilyuy Traps.

File:Vilyuyrivermap.png Location of the Vilyuy River course.

See also

• List of rivers of Russia
• Tukulan, sand dunes
• Late Devonian extinction#Volcanism

External links

• Template:Sister-inline
• Encyclopædia Britannica