Ik (Kama)

Ik Ик, Ыҡ, Ык Iq, Bolshoi Ik
Location of the Ik (Ик) in the Kama catchment area
Data
Water body code	RU: 10010101312111100027667
Location	Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Orenburg Oblast (Russia)
River system	Volga
Drainage via	Kama → Volga → Caspian Sea
Source	Bugulma-Belebeier Heights near Priyutovo 53° 57′ 38″ N, 54° 6′ 11″ E53.96055555555654.103055555556320
Source Height	approx. 320m
Mouth	Kama near Menselinsk55.87222222222252.78111111111162Coordinates 55° 52′ 20″ N, 52° 46′ 52″ O 55° 52′ 20″ N, 52° 46′ 52″ O55.87222222222252.78111111111162
Mouth height	62 m
Height difference	approx. 258 m
Bottom slope	approx. 0.45 ‰
Length	571 km[1][2]
Catchment area	18.000 km²[1][2]
Discharge at the gauge Nagaibakowo[3]	NNQ (February 1940) MQ HHQ (April 1947)	5.75 m³/s 45.5 m³/s 814 m³/s
Left tributaries	Dymka, Mellja, Menselja
Right tributaries	Ussen
Major cities	Oktyabrsky
Medium-sized towns	Abdulino, Bawly, Tuimasy
Small towns	Urussu, Menselinsk
Shipbar	Underflow

The Ik(Russian Ик, Bashkir Ыҡ, Tatar Ык, Iq) is a 571-kilometre-long left tributary of the Kama River in the Volga-Ural region of the European part of Russia. In Russian, the river is also called Bolshoi Ik, German Großer Ik, but is not to be confused with the Bolshoi Ik of the same name flowing in the same region, a tributary of the Sakmara in the Ural river system.

Course

The Ik rises at an altitude of about 320 m in the Bugulma-Belebei Heights, 13 kilometers northeast of the settlement of Priyutovo and 16 kilometers south of the town of Belebei. After a short course on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan in a southwesterly direction, the river turns abruptly to the north and forms the border with Orenburg oblast for about 40 kilometers. Maintaining its predominantly northerly flow direction, the Ik then crosses the main axis of the Bugulma-Belebei mountain range running in a northwest-southeast direction and marks the border between Bashkortostan and the Republic of Tatarstan for just under 150 kilometers as the crow flies, leaving the river course only for short stretches.

Above the small town of Menselinsk, the river turns in a west-northwesterly direction and then runs roughly parallel to the Kama at a distance of 10 to 15 kilometres until it flows into the Kama. The approximately 50-kilometer-long section of the parallel course (as the crow flies; the length of the actual course of the river is greater due to strong meandering) lies in the backwater area of the Nizhnekamsk reservoir, the level of which is normally 62 meters. The common floodplain of the Kama and Ik rivers is covered by a vast expanse of water up to almost 15 kilometres wide with – depending on the water level – varying contours. Most of the reservoir here is less than two metres deep, as the raising of the water level to the originally planned level of 68 m was stopped in 1990.

The most important tributaries are the Ussen from the right and the Dymka, Mellja and Menselja from the left, the largest of which, the Menselja, now flows into the Nizhnekamsk reservoir.

Hydrography

The catchment area of the Ik covers 18,000 km². Above the mouth into the Nizhnekamsk reservoir, the river reaches a width of 70 meters with a depth of over 2 meters.

The Ik freezes between the second half of November and mid-April. The average water flow at the village of Nagaibakowo on the middle course is 45.5 m³/s on an annual average.

Economy and infrastructure

The Ik is navigable in the area of the Nizhnekamsk reservoir.

The area through which the river flows is largely used for agriculture and is relatively densely populated. The largest town is Oktyabrsky, located directly on the right bank. The medium-sized towns of Abdulino, Bawly and Tuimasy are located only a few kilometres from Ik on tributaries. There are a number of oil deposits in the upper and middle reaches, most of which have been exploited since the 1950s.

In its upper reaches, the Ik is crossed between Abdulino and Priyutovo by the Samara-Ufa-Chelyabinsk-Omsk railway, the southern branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway. At Oktyabrsky the Insa-Ulyanovsk-Czhishmy railway crosses the river, as does the M5 Moscow-Samara-Czhelyabinsk trunk road. The M7 Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan-Ufa crosses the river west of the village of Poiseevo on its new route, completed only a few years ago.

enlarge and show information about the picture

Middle reaches of the Ik River near the village of Tumutuk (Location55.01666666666753.3): View from the shallower left, Tatar bank to the higher, Bashkir bank

Web links

Commons: Ik– Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual references

1. ↑ ^{a b} Article Ik in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE), 3rd edition 1969-1978 (Russian)http://vorlage_gse.test/1%3D052281~2a%3DIk~2b%3DIk
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ik in the State Register of Waters of the Russian Federation (Russian)
3. ↑ Ik at Nagaybakovo.(Memento of Originals of November 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive) Info:The archive linkwas inserted automatically and has not been checked yet. Please check original and archive link according to instructions and then remove this note.@1@2Template:Webachiv/IABot/webworld.unesco.org UNESCO