Everything about Moscow River totally explained
The
Moskva River is a river that flows through the
Moscow and
Smolensk Oblasts in
Russia, and is a
tributary of the
Oka River.
Etymology
Moskva and
Moscow are two different renderings of the same Russian word
Москва. The city is named after the river. The origin of the name is unknown, although several theories exist . One theory suggests that the source of the name is an ancient
Finnic language, in which it means "dark" and "turbid". Alternatively, the name may come from the
Finno-Permic Komi language, meaning "cow-river" or from the
Finno-Volgaic Mordovian language, meaning "bear-river". Another claim is that the word is changed version of the
Mongolian word "mushka," which means tangled or angled in reference to the tangled and angled setup of the
Moscow River that much of the city is located next to.
Hydrology
The length of the river is 503
km. The area of its
drainage basin is 17,600
sq km. Vertical level drop is 155 meters (long-term average). Maximum depth above Moscow city limits - 3 meters, and up to 6 meters below it
. Normally, it freezes in November-December and begins to thaw around late March. In downtown Moscow, river freezes occasionally; in an unusually warm winter of 2006-2007, ice began setting on January, 25.
Absolute water level in downtown Moscow is 120.0 meters above sea level (long-term average of summer lows after
World War II), historical maximum was set by the 1908 flood - 127.25 meters above sea level .
Sources of water
Main tributaries are the
Ruza,
Istra,
Yauza,
Pakhra, and
Severka rivers. Sources of water are estimated as 61% thaw, 12% rain and 27% subterranean. After completion of
Moscow Canal (1932-1937), Moskva River also collects a share of
Upper Volga water. This enabled reliable commercial shipping, which was previously interrupted by summer droughts (older dams built in 1785, 1836 and 1878 were not effective). Average
discharge, including Volga waters, varies from 38 m³/s near
Zvenigorod to 250 m³/s at Oka inlet. Flow speed, depending on the season, varies from 0.1 m/s (winter, dams closed) to 1.5-2.0 m/s (may, dams open).
Cities
Moscow (
Москва́), the
capital of Russia, is situated on its banks. The river also flows through the towns of
Mozhaysk,
Zvenigorod,
Zhukovsky,
Bronnitsy,
Voskresensk, and — at the confluence of the Moskva and Oka —
Kolomna. In 2007, there are
49 bridges across Moskva River and its canals within Moscow city limits; the
first stone bridge was erected in 1692. Within the city, river is 120-200 meters wide, the narrowest point exactly under the
Kremlin walls. Drinking water for the city of Moscow is collected from five stations on Moskva River and Upper Volga reservoirs (north and north-west from the city).
Islands
Canals, built within
Moscow city limits, form a number of islands. Some of them have names in Russian, some have none. Major, permanent islands (east to west) are:
- Serebryany Bor. Separated from the mainland in 1930s
- Tatarskaya Poima, commonly known as Mnevniki. Separated from the mainland in 1930s
- Island in downtown Moscow, formed by construction of Vodootvodny Canal in 1780s, has no name in Russian and is referred to as Balchug by English community (but moscowers call it "Bolotniy Ostrov" (Bog Island )
- One uninhabited island north from Nagatino
- Three uninhabited islands east from Nagatino, connected by Pererva dam and lock system
Trivia
The Battle of Borodino is known in French as "Battle of the Moskva River" (Bataille de la Moscowa).
The Moskva River, as well as Gorky Park are mentioned in Scorpions' ballad Wind of Change. The first lines of the lyrics read as : "I follow the Moskva/ Down to Gorky Park/ Listening to the wind of change"Further Information
Get more info on 'Moscow River'.
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