Characteristics of the Largest Rivers and Lakes

Katun: The lower part of this beautiful river is in the Altai territory. Its source is in Gebler glacier, which is on the south slope of Belukha. The Katun is 688 km long; its basin is 60900 km².

Biya: The Biya is the second longest river of the Altai territory. Its length, together with the Chulishman and Lake Teletskoye, is 619 km; its basin is 37000 km². It runs out of Lake Teletskoye, but its sources are far away in the southeast, where the Bashkaus and the Chulishman spring up from the spurs of Chikhachev Ridge. The Chulishman flows into Lake Teletskoye as a large river, and flows out of it the even bigger Biya. The riverbed abounds in rapids. It takes great skill and courage to get over ridges on rafts and boats. During periods of high water the river is suitable for shipping.

Ob: The river flows through the Altai territory in a wide valley with clear- cut terraces over bottomlands. Its length is 453 km. The left bank is high, with lots of precipices; the right bank is lower. The river is nourished by a combination of: snow (49% prevails) and rain (27%). Floods usually start on June 6 and last till July 31. The maximum water level (up to 1-8 m) is observed in May and in the beginning of June, when mountain snow and glaciers thaw. The lowest w ater level is observed in August and October and it is stopped only by heavy rains. The Ob Reservoir is situated in the north of the territory, behind Kamen-on-Ob. There is a dam near Novosibirsk. The reservoir is 230 km long and 20 km wide; its area is 1070 km². The water level has been observed since 1893. The greatest amount of water was measured on June 5,1969, at 12600 m³/sec, the smallest amount was found on March 7-14,1969, with 125 m³/sec. During the course of any given year the outflow is distributed irregularly.

The Ob has large tributaries in the Altai territory. The left tributaries are: the Peschanaya (276 km, 5660km²), the Anuy (327 km, 6930 km²), the Charish (547 km, 22200 km²), the Aley (828 km, 18200 km^z) and the Bamaulka (207 km, 5720 km²). The right tributaries are: the Chumish (644 km, 23400.km²), the hiya (170 km, 475 km²).

The northwest and the west parts of the Altai territory belong to the area of inner runoff. The region includes the rivers Burla (11180 km²), Kulunda (12400 km²), and the Kuchuk (1020 km²), all of which flow into lakes. These rivers are shallow and nourish with snow waters. In summer small rivers often dry up. Their water becomes mineralized. With the exception of the aforementioned river ba­sins, there is no runoff in the area of 50,000 km².

There are many lakes in the Altai territory: 60% of which are fresh, whereas the rest are salt lakes. The lakes of the Altai territory are subdivided into:

1. Oxbows are formed as a result of erosive and accumulative river activ­ity. There are many of them in the plains.

2. Eroding hollows of aged drainage. Many of which stretched to the northeast. They form river chains, as in the valley of the Bamaulka.

3. Suffusing rivers, called 'steppe. saucers,' May be seen in the Kulundinskaya steppe.

4. Terminal lakes, in which the rivers Kulunda, Kuchuk and Burla fall, are not deep and have silt bottoms. Their waters are mineralized.

5. Hollow lakes in lowlands and highlands are subdivided into flowing (fed with springs) and non-flowing. The regime of the flowing lakes depends on the rivers, which fall into them.