Indigirka

Indigirka – a river in Yakutia, which flows into the East Siberian Sea. It is 1,726 km long. The area of its basin is 360,000 km². The area of its delta covers about 5,500 km². It is formed by confluence of the Tuora-Yuryakh and the Taryn-Yuryakh rivers that flow down from the northern slopes of the Khalkan Range. Its basin lies in-between permafrost, northward of 70^° N in tundra zone; hence, immense icing is characteristic for its rivers (in the basin of the Moma, a tributary of the Indigirka, Ulakhan-Taryn is placed – the largest icing in Russia with the area of 80–90 km²and maximum ice thickness of 5–6 m). In relation to the structure of the valley, bed, and flow rate, the Indigirka can be broken into two reaches: upper mountain (640 km) and lower plain (1,086 km). In its headwater the Indigirka flows along Yana-Oymyakon Highland and then in crevasse cuts a number of mountain ridges of the Chersky Range system leaving riffles behind, lower reach – at Yana-Indigirka Lowland. The...