Moskva (river)

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Moskva
The Moskva at the Kremlin in Moscow
Map of the Volga watershed with the Moskva highlighted; the two rivers are directly connected by the Moscow Canal
Native name	Москва (Russian)
Location
Country	Russia
Region	Podmoskovye
Physical characteristics
Source	Moskva
• location	Sychiki, Podmoskovye
• coordinates	55°30′50″N 35°21′50″E / 55.514°N 35.364°E / 55.514; 35.364
• elevation	246 m (807 ft)
Mouth	Oka
• location	Kolomna, Podmoskovye
• coordinates	55°04′31″N 38°50′43″E / 55.0753°N 38.8453°E / 55.0753; 38.8453
• elevation	98 m (322 ft)
Length	473 km (294 mi)
Basin size	17,600 km2 (6,800 sq mi)
Basin features
Progression	Oka→ Volga→ Caspian Sea

The Moskva (Russian: река́ Москва́, Москва́-река́, Moskvá-reká) is a river that flows through western Russia. It rises about 140 km (90 mi) west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through central Moscow. About 110 km (70 mi) southeast of Moscow, at the city of Kolomna, it flows into the Oka, itself a tributary of the Volga, which ultimately flows into the Caspian Sea.

History

In addition to Finnic tribes, the Moskva River is also the origin of Slavic tribes such as the Vyatichi tribe.^[1]

Etymology

The name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the river.^[2][3] Several theories of the origin of the name have been proposed.

The most linguistically well-grounded and widely accepted is from the Proto-Balto-Slavic root *mŭzg-/muzg- from the

The river is 473 km (294 mi) long (or 502 km (312 mi)),[8] and the area of its drainage basin is 17,600 km² (6,800 sq mi).^[9] It has a vertical drop of 155 m (509 ft) (long-term average). The maximum depth is 3 metres (9.8 ft) above Moscow city limits, and up to 6 metres (20 ft) below it.^[10] Normally, it freezes in November–December and begins to thaw around late March. During an unusually warm winter in 2006–2007, ice began melting on January 25. The portion of the river running through Moscow only freezes occasionally on account of contamination.^[11]

The absolute water level in downtown Moscow is 120 metres (390 ft) above sea level (long-term average of summer lows after World War II); a historical maximum of 127.25 metres (417.5 ft) above sea level was set by the 1908 flood.^[12]

Sources of water

The main tributaries of the Moskva are, from source to mouth:^[9]

Sources of water are estimated as 61% thaw, 12% rain and 27% subterranean. Since completion of the Moscow Canal (1932–1937), the Moskva River has also collected a share of Upper Volga water. This has enabled reliable commercial shipping, which was previously interrupted by summer droughts (older dams built in 1785, 1836 and 1878 were not effective). The average discharge, including Volga waters, varies from 38 m³/s (1,300 cu ft/s) near Zvenigorod to 250 m³/s (8,800 cu ft/s) at the Oka inlet. The speed of the current, depending on the season, varies from 0.1 m/s (0.33 ft/s) (winter, dams closed) to 1.5–2.0 m/s (4.9–6.6 ft/s) (May, dams open).

Cities and towns

Islands

Canals, built within Moscow city limits, have created a number of islands. Some of them have names in Russian, some have none. Major, permanent islands (west to east) are:

• Serebryany Bor (park). Separated from the mainland in the 1930s.
• Tatarskaya Poyma, commonly known as Mnyovniki. Separated from the mainland in the 1930s
• Kremlin. The island was formed by the construction of the Vodootvodny Canal
  in the 1780s, and has no official name in Russian. Moscow residents informally call it "Bolotny Ostrov" (Bog Island) while members of Moscow's English-speaking community refer to it as Balchug.
• One uninhabited island north of Nagatino.
• Three uninhabited islands east of
  lock
  system.

Recreation

There is a fleet of river ice-breaker cruisers which ply routes from moorings at the

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