Formed by the merger of two Altairivers - Biya and Katun, the river Ob actually continues Katun. At the confluence of these sufficiently powerful reservoirs an even more turbulent flow is formed. And each river has its own color.
Biya has a white or dirty gray tint, andKatun - greenish. Combined into one general stream, the water does not mix for some time, as a result of which a multi-colored striped water jet is formed. This phenomenon is especially good in summer and autumn. Flowing into the Kara Sea, the Ob forms a large bay, having a length of about 800 kilometers, which is called the Ob Bay.
Together with its tributary Irtysh, the Ob Riverlocated in first place in length in Russia (5410 km.) and in second place - in Asia. The area of its basin is almost 3 million square meters. km By the way the nature of the river network changes, the feeding conditions and the water regime of the river are formed, the Ob can be divided into three large sections: the upper (from the source to the mouth of the Tom River), the middle (to the mouth of the Irtysh River) and the lower (to the Ob Bay). Filling the river with water occurs mainly due to the melting of snow, with most of the flow occurring during the spring-summer flood.
In the upper reaches of the flood usually occurs inearly April, on average - in the middle of the month, and in the lower - in late April-early May. The rise of the water level begins even during freezing. At the opening of the river there may be intense short rises in the water level as a result of ice jams. In this case, it is even possible to change the direction of flow in some tributaries of the Ob. In the upper course, the flood may continue until July, the summer low flow period is characterized by instability, and in September-October there is a rain flood. Recession floods in the middle and lower reaches may continue to freeze-up. Ob has many large (Irtysh, Charysh, Anuy, Alei, Chumysh, Bird, Chulym, Tom, etc.) and small tributaries.
The origin of the name of the reservoirseveral versions. So, from the Komi language the word “ob” is translated as “snow” or “snowdrift”. Another version says that the river received its name from the Persian "ob" ("water"). There is also a version that the name is based on the Russian word “both,” since the source of the Ob River is formed by the confluence of two reservoirs. Every theory has a right to exist.
The Ob River is important for everything.West Siberian region. It is used as a natural transportation route, especially for the summer supply of fuel and food to the northern areas, which can only be reached by river. In the southern part is located Novosibirsk reservoir (also called the Ob Sea), formed built in 1950-1961. dam of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric station. There are about fifty different species and subspecies of fish in Ob waters, almost half of which are the objects of fishing (mainly these are small fish - pike, burbot, bream, pike perch, ide, roach, etc.). Sterlet, sturgeon, nelma, muksun and others are also found in the river. The Ob River, especially in its upper course, is traditionally used as a resting place. There are many sanatoriums and camp sites (especially in the Novosibirsk reservoir), known not only in the country, but also abroad.
