Aldan (river)

The Aldan (Sakha and Russian: Алдан) is the second-longest right tributary of the Lena in the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia.

The river is 2,273 kilometres (1,412 mi) long, and around 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) of it is navigable. Its drainage basin covers 729,000 square kilometres (281,000 sq mi).

The river was part of the River Route to Okhotsk. In 1639, Ivan Moskvitin went up the rivers Aldan and Maya, crossed over to the Ulya, and reached the Sea of Okhotsk.

The basin of the river is known for gold and for Cambrian fossils.

Etymology

In the past, many people believed the name came from the Turkic-Mongolian word altan or altyn, which meant "gold." Later, a hypothesis appeared that the river's name, Aldan (also spelled Allan), came from the hydronym of the Evenk words oldo or ollo, meaning "fish."

Another explanation is that aldan means coastal spring ice in evenk.

Course

The Aldan starts in the Stanovoy Mountains, southwest of Neryungri. It flows mostly northeast, south of the Lena Plateau, across the Aldan Highlands, where it forms the northern edge of the Sunnagyn Range. It then passes Aldan and flows through Tommot, Ust-Maya, Eldikan and Khandyga before turning northwest. In its last stretch it runs along the southern slopes of the Verkhoyansk Range and joins the Lena near Batamay.

The Aldan has many tributaries, which are smaller rivers that flow into it. From the right side, these include Timpton, Uchur, Maya, Khamna, Allakh-Yun, Khanda, Tyry, Eastern Khandyga, Tompo, Khandiga, Baray, Tukulan, Kele and Tumara, which has its own tributary, Nuora. From the left side, they include Amedichi, Chuga, Yungyuele, Bilir, Notora, Kuoluma, Amga, Tatta and Tanda.