HYDROLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF RIVERS IN THE FOREST-STEPPE ZONE OF THE LOWER VOLGA AREA DURING THE EXTREME WATER SHORTAGE (CASE STUDY OF THE KONDURCHA AND BAYTUGAN RIVERS)

The results of field research of the Kondurcha and Baytugan rivers (the Lower Volga basin) during water shortage of summer 2010 are presented. The rivers are significantly different in size, anthropogenic pressure over the drainage area and forest cover. Different trends of water discharge and turbidity, suspended and bed sediments and their grain-size distribution along the rivers were revealed. The specific discharge at the Baytugan River mouth was 1,5 times higher than in the Kondurcha River mouth, due to azonal features of the Baytugan River basin (small area, karst processes, important role of springs, higher forest cover – 55%, low anthropogenic pressure). During the studied period the contribution of springs located in river valleys to the water flow amounted to 5% for the Kondurcha River and 18% for the Baytugan River. Hydrological conditions of 2010 water scarcity resulted from a combination of long-term heat and very dry summer. The air temperature exceeded the average rate by 5,2 °C, or 28%, precipitation deficit between April and September varied from 33 to 95%. As a result, the average water discharge decreased to 4,48 m3/s (37% less than the long-term average values), corresponding to 86% exceedance probability, thus the year could be classified as very low water one. Extreme weather phenomena affected the intra-annual distribution of water runoff in 2010; its summer-autumn part for the Kondurcha River decreased almost twice (from 28 to 16% compared to the long-term average). In the absence of rainfall, affecting the slope erosion in the river basin, the content of suspended solids depended solely on hydrological transport capacity, which naturally increased downstream with the increase in water flow. Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) increased 5 times along the Baytugan River because of the erosion of riverbed sediments with increasing water discharge. On the contrary, SSC decreased by 1.6 times along the Kondurcha River, due to regulation of river tributaries by small reservoirs and ponds, which hindered the movement of sediment along fluvial systems and reduced water content of the main river in the dry season. Suspended sediment discharge in the Kondurcha River amounted to 3% of the average annual values at 2010 water shortage. 

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