Kem () is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russia. It is a left bank tributary of the Yenisey.
The origins of the term kem are unclear. This name for rivers is widespread from central Siberia in the east, west to Finland (e.g. the Kemi), and was notably a historical name for the Upper Yenisei. The name comes from an ancient word kem or hem, with meaning of "great river", but its linguistic origin is disputed. Various Turkic, SamoyedVásáry I. 1971 "Käm, an Early Samoyed Name of Yenisey", L. Legeti (ed.) Studia Turcica, Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 469‒482. and Iranian derivations have been proposed, but these have also been disputed.
The term survives as a word only in Siberian Turkic languages: in Tuvan as xem (), meaning "river"Тенишев Э.Р., Тувинско-русский словарь: около 22 000 слов // Москва : Советская энциклопедия. 1968. с. 473. (but only used in the names of rivers) and in its sister language, Tofa, as hem (), also meaning "river".Рассадин В. И., Словарь тофаларско-русский и русско-тофаларский // Санкт-Петербург : Дрофа. 2005. с. 55. These languages are considered to have had close contact with those mentioned above in ancient times.Hambis 1956, 282.Vásáry 1971, 475. Additionally, there are just over 50 river names containing the suffix -kem -кем in the Altai Republic,Молчанова О. Т., Топонимический словарь Горного Алтая // Горно-Алтайское отделение Алтайского книжного издательства. 1979. С. 55—62. and the term kim () as in Kim suğ (), meaning "Yenisei River" also is present in Khakas.Чанков Д. И., Русско-хакасский словарь: 31000 слов // Государственное издательство иностранных и национальных словарей. 1961. с. 960. All of these instances are confined to the region in and around the present-day Tannu-Tuva.
Course The river flows across the West Siberian Plain through the districts of Bolshemurtinsky, Kazachinsky, Pirovsky, and Yeniseysky District before discharging into the Yenisei River close to the town of Yeniseysk at 2045 kilometers before the mouth. The Kem is 356 kilometres (221 miles) long. Its drainage basin covers a total area of 8,940 square kilometres (3,452 square miles). The most important tributaries of the Kem are the Tyya () at the 97 kilometer from the mouth and the Belaya () at the 115 kilometer from the mouth. Both major tributaries are on the left side. The source of the Kem is located in Bolshemurtinsky District where it rises as a small creek in the East Siberian taiga. Due to the tributary rivers, towards the mouth river reaches 45 meters of width.
The Kem flows mostly through the plain and vegetation grows directly up to the river shores and water. The bottom of the river is covered with a lot of clay and sandy-clay and a river water is generally not clear. The upper reaches of the river flows through the mixed type taiga covered with conifers (larch, fir, spruce, cedar), birch and aspen, as well as through the areas that are categorized as a standard mixed forest. Due to the tributary rivers, towards the mouth the river reaches 45 meters of width.
Protected area Kem's Biological Reserve is located on the 16 000 hectares of the land that stretched along the banks of the river. In 1963 the project of restoration of population of beavers started here with 20 individuals of this species being brought in the region.
See also List of rivers of Russia
References