The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts) and then again through Russia (Rostov Oblast) to join the river Don, about from the Sea of Azov. The Donets is the fourth-longest river in Ukraine, and the largest in eastern Ukraine, where it is an important source of fresh water. It gives its name to the Donets Basin, known commonly as the Donbas, an important coal-mining and industrial region in Ukraine.
Etymology The names Don and its diminutive Donets are derived from Iranic, Sarmatian "the river".Mallory, J.P. and Victor H. Mair. The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. London: Thames and Hudson, 2000. p. 106Абаев В. И. Осетинский язык и фольклор (Ossetian language and folklore). Moscow: Publishing house of Soviet Academy of Sciences, 1949. P. 236 Scytho-Sarmatians inhabited the areas to the north of the Black Sea from 1100 BC into the early medieval times.
In the 2nd century CE Ptolemy knew the river Don, into which the Donets flows, as Tanais, and Western Europeans recognized that the Don had a significant tributary which they called either the small Tanais or Donetz. The Slavic name of Seversky Donets derived from the fact that the river originates from the land of Severians. As the Italian-Polish chronicler Alexander Guagnini (1538–1614) wrote: "There is also another, small Tanais, which originates in the Seversky Principality (for this reason it is called Donets Seversky) and flows into the large Tanais above Azov".Guagnini, Alexander Description of Muscovy. 1997 reprint (in Russian): Есть также другой, малый Танаис, который берёт своё начало в Северском княжестве (поэтому он называется Донец Северский) и выше Азова впадает в большой Танаис.
Geography and hydrology
The Donets is the largest river in eastern Ukraine and the largest tributary of the Don. Its total length is and the basin area is .«Река Северский Донец (Северный Донец)», Russian State Water Registry Most of the river's length stretches across Ukraine. The average annual flow is near the source and at the confluence to the Don.Bliznyakov E., Ovchinnikov KM, Bykov, VD Hydrography of the rivers of USSR, Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, 1945.Kimstach, p. 376
The Donets originates on the Central Russian Upland, near Podolkhi village, Prokhorovka area, north of Belgorod,Antimonov NA Nature of the Belgorod Oblast, Belgorod Publishing House, 1959 at an elevation of above sea level. Its basin contains over 3000 rivers, of which 425 are longer than and 11 are longer than ; 1011 of those rivers directly flow into the Donets.Рідний edge Харківський dominant педагогічний університет, Харків, 1999 Demchenko MA Hydrography of Kharkiv Oblast Proceedings of the Geographical Society of Kharkiv. Volume VIII. Kharkiv Oblast. Nature and economy, Kharkiv State University, Kharkiv, 1971 These rivers are mostly fed by melting snow, and thus the water supply is uneven during the year. The spring flood lasts about two months, from February to April – during this period the water level rises by . Excessive flooding is rare due to numerous artificial water reservoirs constructed along the river.Kimstach, p. 409
The width of the river mostly ranges between , sometimes reaching and even in the reservoir area. The river bottom is sandy and uneven, with the depth varying between and the average value of . The river freezes from around mid-December until late March and is covered by thick ice. It flows into the Don from the latter's mouth, at an elevation of above sea level; thus the fall of the river is with the average gradient of 0.18 m/km.
Tributaries and reservoirs Right bank: Babka, Udy, Mozh, Bereka, Kazennyi Torets, Bakhmutka, Luhan, Luhanchyk, Great Kamianka, Kundryuchya Left bank: Nezhegol, Vovcha, Khotimlia, Velykyi Burluk, Hnylytsia, Balakliika, Iziumets, Oskil, Netryus, Zherebets', Krasna, Borova, Aidar, Derkul, Glubokaya, Kalitva, Bystraya Water reservoirs: Belgorod water reservoir, Pechenizke water reservoir
Current
The flow is slow, between at Chuhuiv and near Lysychansk.Wisniewski В.І. Гідрологічні characteristics річок Ukraine, Ніка-Center, Kyiv, 2003 (in Ukrainian) The river valley is wide: from in the upper part and up to downstream, and is asymmetrical. The right bank is usually high, sometimes with chalk cliffs, and is dissected by gullies. The left bank is more flat, contains numerous swamps, lakes and oxbow lakes, the largest of which is lake Lyman. The river is meandering, especially above the Oskil tributary.
Upstream, above Belgorod, the river contains several dams and small reservoirs. Downstream, below the confluence with the Wolf River (Volchiya River), there is the Pechenizke Reservoir (volume 86 km3), which supplies water to the city of Kharkiv. Below the Pechenizke Reservoir, the Donets is fed by the Udy and by its largest tributary, the Oskil. There the valley widens and its floodplain creates numerous oxbow lakes. Within Ukraine, the river flows between the Cisdesna plateau and the Donets lowland. In its middle, the river is partly fed by the Dnieper waters, which are brought though the Dnieper–Donbas–Seversky Donets channels which provide water to the coal industry of the Donets Basin (usually called the Donbas). Near the Russian city of Donetsk (Rostov oblast), the river crosses the Donets Ridge and flows in a narrow valley with steep and rocky slopes. In the lower part of the Donets lowland, the flow is interrupted by sluices and is slow. At the delta, it splits into three distributaries.
Navigation At present, the Donets is navigable up to the city of Donetsk (Rostov Oblast), 222 km from the mouth. Navigation on the last section is supported by six dams, built from 1911 to 1914. Each consists of a long concrete dam and a single-chamber sluice, long, wide and deep. At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, a number of attempts were made to revive shipping, in particular, for the sake of the possibility of water transportation of minerals in the Donbass. One of the enthusiasts of the project was D. I. Mendeleev, who wrote about the need to “arrange the Donets […] for our Russian needs […] because the Donets, due to the importance of the interests involved in it, is most necessary”. The developer of the project was the Russian hydraulic engineer Nestor Platonovich Puzyrevsky, known for his contribution to the Volga-Don Canal project. In 1903–1904, he conducted a detailed study of the channel of the Seversky Donets and proposed a project to restore the navigation of the Seversky Donets to the city of Belgorod, which involves the construction of a large number of locksMendeleev D.I. Future force resting on the banks of the Donets. "Northern Herald", No. 8 – 12, 1888Puzyrevskyi N.P. Prospecting on Sev. Donets River in 1903 and 1904 and the project of the waterway from Kharkiv and Belgorod to the confluence of river Donets, St. Petersburg, 1910 were interrupted by World War I, Russian Civil War and lack of funds. The design of the dams and their old age slowed the navigation of the river, which is currently rather limited.
+ Major features on the Donets (from source to mouth) Country Oblast Dist. from the mouth, km Dist. from the source, km Name Type Note Belgorod 1053 0 Source Near Podolkhi village, Prokhorovka area Belgorod 990 63 Belgorod City Belgorod 990 63 Belgorod Reservoir Kharkiv 940 113 Kharkiv 874 179 Pechenihy Urban-type settlement Annual consumption of 24.5 m3/sState Water Cadastre. Annual data on mode and surface water resources. Parts 1 and 2, Volume II, Issue 3. RIHMI-WDC, Obninsk, 1989 Kharkiv 837 216 Chuhuiv City Annual consumption of 20.5 m3/s Kharkiv 634 419 Bereka River and Dnieper – Donbas channel Right tributary Length 102 km; 2,680 km2 basin Kharkiv 600 453 Izium City Annual consumption 52 m3/s Kharkiv 580 473 Oskil Left tributary Length 436 km; 14,680 km2 basin Donetsk 518 535 Raihorodok Urban-type settlement Start of Donets-Donbas channel Donetsk 516 537 Kazennyi Torets Tributary Length 129 km; 5410 km2 basin Luhansk 482 571 Rubizhne City Luhansk 432 621 Lysychansk City Annual consumption 106 m3/s Luhansk 430 623 Sievierodonetsk City Luhansk 306 747 Luhansk City Rostov 222 831 Donetsk, Russia City Start of the ship navigation zone Rostov 197 856 Kamensk-Shakhtinsky City Annual consumption 159 m3/s Rostov 0 1053 Mouth 218 km from the confluence of the Don to Azov Sea
History
Pre-industrial era
The river played a crucial role for its ancient settlers as a source of water and food, means of transportation and trade route. The first archaeological evidence of settlers relates to Cheulean and Acheulean periods of Lower Paleolithic through stone tools (axes) found on the river banks near Izium city of Kharkiv Oblast and in Luhansk Oblast.Boriskovsky PI Paleolithic Ukraine, Materials and Research on the Archaeology of the USSR (MIA), v. 40, Moscow, Leningrad, 1953 Over the ages, the river banks were populated by tribals of various cultures, including Mousterian, Yamna, Catacomb, Scythian, Alan, Khazar and later Slavic cultures. Many of the related tribals had nomadic lifestyle characteristic of Kipchak people, Golden Horde and later of Cossacks. The river flows through the historic lands of Sloboda Ukraine as well as the lands of Don River Host. The many Cossacks became later assimilated into the strengthening Russian Empire, which had rebuilt and reinforced the fortress of Belgorod and cities of Kyiv, Izium, Luhansk, Chuhuiv and others in order keep defensive lines against the raids of nomads from the south-east. Later, the protective role of the river basin gave way to economic needs. In the 18th–19th centuries, the river was extensively used for watermills, which numbered by hundreds by the end of the 18th century, and the mill dams interrupted navigation on the river."Описания Харьковского наместничества конца XVIII века". Original publication year 1788. Kiev, Наукова думка, 1991, p. 39 (in Russian)
Industrial era
Industrialization in the 20th century shifted interests to mineral exploitation in Donbas, with water-hungry plants concentrated mostly in Kyiv, Luhansk and Donetsk.Zhuk G. P. Seversky Donets – Donbas, Acad. "Donbas", Donetsk, 1982 Already by the 1930s, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk were lacking water forcing the authorities to gradually create a network of canals and reservoirs. In 1936, the Kochetok Reservoir was created and coupled to the water system of Kharkiv. By the 1950s, this measure proved insufficient, and in the 1960s, Pechenizke Reservoir was constructed in place of the Kochetok Reservoir. It has with the capacity of 400 million m3 and provides about 75% of water consumed by Kharkiv. To supply water to southern Donbas and Donetsk, the 130-km long Donets-Donbas channel was built around 1958 starting near Raigorodok city, and in compensation, the Dnieper-Donbas channel was created to supply water from Dnieper River to the upstream of the Donets via the Bereka River.Kimstach, p. 381 As a result of the industrial activity, the wild nature of Donets Basin transformed into an industrial settlement.Gorelova, LN, Dogadina T., Krivitsky IA Enchanted Valley. Travel Seversky Donets, "Prapor", Kharkiv, 1990Dotsenko AP Why does Seversky Donets become shallow and loses fish, "Priroda" No. 4, 1958 After the breakup of the USSR, most of the basin territory became part of Ukraine.
Russo-Ukrainian War
During the War in Donbas, Luhansk Oblast was roughly split along the river between the Luhansk People's Republic, which controlled most of the portion of the oblast south of the Donets, and the Ukrainian government, which controlled most of the territory north of the Donets.