Another 29/01/20 Why the river Kama in charge of the Volga
If the man with the air of a connoisseur pronounces truisms, it usually ironic answer: “Volga flows into the Caspian sea”. This phrase from the story of the great writer A. P. Chekhov “the Teacher of literature” became winged. Meanwhile, the scientific community has long debated. Contrary to common dogma, some geographers, hydrologists and historians believe that in the Caspian sea flows into the river Kama.
Kama vs Volga
Both of the rivers remarkable in its own way. Both flow in the European part of Russia. Both affluent and mighty.
According to the official version, the length of the Volga – more than 3.5 thousand kilometers. It is possible to get precipitation on the territory of 1 million 360 thousand kilometers of the earth’s surface, on average, every year, the great Russian river brings into the Caspian sea is 254 km3. In the Volga basin includes 151 thousand about rivers and streams.
If we talk about Kame, its official length is more than 1,8 thousand kilometers. The catchment area of this river exceeds 507 thousand kilometers, and average annual runoff is estimated by experts in 117 km3. In the Kama river flows nearly 75 thousand tributaries.
the river Volga gives almost half of its water wealth. Moreover, in the lower reaches of the Kama flows into the Kuibyshev reservoir and started to sleeve. The width of its bed in some places reaches 1 km 200 m. Not by chance the name of hydrological object descended from the Udmurt word “Kam”, which translates as “big.”
blame glacier
local Historian from the city of Naberezhnye Chelny, the Chairman of the Board of “lower Kama” Anatoliy Dubrovskiy is one of the experts who disagree with the established dogma that the Caspian sea it flows into the Volga. On the portal “world encyclopedia of Travel” published an article by local historian “or Kama Volga: who fought?”. In it the author defends perventin its native rivers.
the fact that from the point of view of Geology Kama, indeed, an ancient Volga river. Numerous studies silt of the two rivers revealed that up to 11.7 thousand years ago, during the Pleistocene the current Cenozoic era, that of Kama fell into the ancient waters of the Caspian sea. And the Volga was only one of the tributaries of the don.
the Last glacial period ended about 9.6 thousand years ago, really changed the landscape of Eastern Europe. When he came down the ice, the hydrographic network has gone through reformatting. River that starts in the Valdai hills, joined with the Kama, and total water flowed in its ancient channel, directly into the Caspian sea.
local Historian A. G. Dubrovsky gives another argument in favor of his theory: at the confluence of two rivers, the Volga river turns almost 90 degrees (right angle), while Kama does not change its direction of motion.
the Cause of the rule of the Volga, from the point of view of official science, many specialists associated with the established historical tradition, the image of the great Russian river has played a unifying role in the formation of our statehood.
However, this is not the only occasion when the river, which according to hydrology is the main, forced to cede its inflows on various economic, cultural and demographic reasons. This is the situation, for example, in pairs: the Yenisei and Angara, Mississippi and Missouri, the Ob and the Irtysh.
the Medieval tradition
Some medieval authors and cartographers is also believed that the Caspian sea it flows into the Kama. In particular, this opinion was shared by Arab travellers. This point of view, our reflected in the writings of the famous scholar Abu al-Idrisi (Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Muhammad al-Idrisi), who in 1154 completed work on the text of the Tabula Rogeriana (the Book of Roger). Scientist 18 made its own commentary on the world map by order of the king of Sicily Roger II. The full title of this text: “nuzhat al-Mushtaq Fi-hirak al-Afak” can be translated as “joy passionately wishing to cross the world”.
the Arab geographical tradition, recognizing the primacy of the Kama river, has had its effect on scientists ‘ ideas of medieval Western Europe. For example, the German philologist Friedrich Lubker (Friedrich Heinrich Christian Luebker) was a “Real dictionary of classical antiquities”, which was published in 1855. In this edition the author wrote: “RA, Rha, river of Asian Sarmatia, flowing from two sources in the land of the Hyperboreans, and connecting both sleeves (now the Volga and the Kama) flows into the Caspian sea, several times peremennaya the direction of their flow”.
That is, Pa (Rha) is not just the Volga, in the opinion of the medieval Western scholars as the result of a combination of the above two rivers.
the opinions of travelers
Some Russian travellers and geographers have also acknowledged the primacy of Kama in this dispute. Among them were an adjunct of the Imperial Academy of Sciences Nikolai p. Rychkov, who in the years 1769-1770 traveled to the land of Perm, Vyatka, Ufa, Kazan and Orenburg provinces. His impressions he expressed in the book “a Journal or day notes journey of captain Rychkov in different provinces of the Russian state”.
the Adjunct of the Academy of Sciences wrote: “Many knowledgeable people have assured me that the Kama river to move huge ships are much more capable of the Volga, because there is no such shoals, which finds in the Volga waters. Indeed, Kama is large, but not only the length – area of catchment, its importance for man and nature”.
Memoirist Philip Philipovich Weigel passed along the Kama river in 1805, as a member of the famous Embassy of count J. A. Golovkin to China. In the memories about this trip of F. F. Vigel called Kama majestic, indicating that it can rightfully be considered “the best river of European Russia,” according to its shipping terms.
the Writer Evgraf Alekseevich Verderevskii in his book “From the Urals to the Caucasus. Humorous, sentimental and practicalcal letters from the road”, which was published in 1857, also spoke on this topic. He argued: “…it also seemed to me a truthful comment about Kame told to me one of the skippers: not the Volga, and Kama should be called a nurse and a mother of Russian rivers, because, as a General remark, only the Kama water support and fill intermittent and shoaling in late June, Volga basin”.
“an Illustrated guide to the Volga and its tributaries the Oka and Kama” (N. Andreev, 2nd ed., Moscow, 1915) pointed out: “the Academic dispute about whether the Kama flows into the Volga, or, conversely, the Volga with the Kama, and the insoluble question was destined to remain forever unresolved…”.
From the point of view of science
If we consider the dispute between the two rivers from the point of view of hydrology, without taking into account the various economic, socio-cultural, historical factors, it is Kama, it is possible to recognize the main. Also, the specialists take into account such factors as the richness and the length of the river, its tributaries, the basin area, geological age of the valley, channel width, flow velocity and depth.
the Most important criterion in determining the main river and its tributaries is deep: less volumetric flow is considered to be flowing in a more powerful hydrological object. And according to this indicator, Kama confident leader. At the confluence of two rivers-the Kama water consumption is 4 thousand 300 cubic meters per second, whereas Volga is noticeably less affluent, the figure – a total of 3,100 cubic meters per second.
Kama wins, because it bear the waters of the Ural river, abundantly replenished by the melting of mountain glaciers and regular precipitation. Volga shallow well after the spring floods.
the Only metric by which Kama is inferior to the Volga, is the area of the water basin, to the confluence of the great Russian river collects rainfall from a larger area. Perhaps that is why the official science gives the palm to the mother-Volga.
Origanum Tanatarova
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