Chusovaya River

Chusovaya River
View of the river in the 1910s. Maksimovsky rock.
Country	Russia
Basin features
Main source	Central Ural 356 m (1,168 ft)
River mouth	Kamsky Reservoir 108.5 m (356 ft)
Basin size	23,000 km2 (8,900 sq mi)
Physical characteristics
Length	592 km (368 mi)
Discharge	Average rate: 222 m3/s (7,800 cu ft/s)

The Chusovaya River (Russian: Чусова́я) is a river flowing in Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast and Chelyabinsk Oblast of Russia. A tributary of the Kama River, which in turn is a tributary of the Volga River, it discharges into the Chusovskoy Cove of the Kamsky Reservoir. The river is remarkable in that it originates on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains in Asia, crosses the mountains, and mostly runs on their western slopes in Europe. The Chusovaya River is widely used as a source of water. In particular, its water is taken from the Volchikhinsky Reservoir, 37 square kilometres (14 sq mi), to the Verkhneisetsky Reservoir to supply the major city of Yekaterinburg. Fifteen smaller reservoirs are spread over about 150 tributaries of the river.

There are numerous metal and coal mines along the Chusovaya, and the river was intensively used to deliver their production to the western Russia. However, industrial navigation nearly halted with the development of railways in the early 20th century. Chusovoy is the major remaining port on the river.

The Chusovaya River is famous for its hundreds of large rocks located along the shoreline (see infobox image) which are the major tourist attraction of the area. Some rocks posed much danger to boats, especially during the spring thaw. They are generally called boitsy (бойцы, lit. fighters); many of them have individual names and are protected by the state as natural monuments.

The basin of the Chusovaya River has an area of 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 sq mi) and an average elevation of 356 metres (1,168 ft). The river is 592 kilometres (368 mi) (777 kilometres according to other sources) and has an average height gradient of 0.4 m/km. It has two sources: Poludennaya Chusovaya and Western (Zapadanaya) Chusovaya. The former originates in a swampy area in the north of Chelyabinsk Oblast and flows to the north. After 45 kilometres (28 mi), it merges with the Western Chusovaya, which starts at the Ufaley ridge. Then the river flows for about 150 kilometres (93 mi) on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains; here its width is 10 to 13 metres (33 to 43 ft). In the upper stream Chusovaya takes many tributaries and shows on its shores outcrops of crystalline shale, which were formed through the interaction of magmatic and sedimentary rocks.