Main source Anabar Plateau Length 939 km Basin area 100,000 km² Country Russia | River mouth Laptev Sea Discharge 498 m³/s Mouth Laptev Sea | |
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Basin size 100,000 km (39,000 sq mi) | ||
The Anabar River (Russian: Анабар) is a river in Sakha, Russia, located just west of the Lena River. Its catchment extends into the Putoran Mountains that form the highest part of the Central Siberian Plateau.
Contents
Map of Anabar River, Sakha Republic, Russia
Its mean annual discharge is approximately 500 cubic metres per second (18,000 cu ft/s), concentrated heavily in early summer when the ice that covers the river for most of the year thaws. The Gulf of Anabar is believed to be the easternmost fjord in Russia – defining the point at which the climate during the Last Glacial Maximum became too dry for glaciers to form. A clear transition from fjords to deltas at river mouths is apparent shortly to the east at the Lena River delta.
The basin of the Anabar river is notable as the location of the largest concentration of diamond deposits in the world outside of Africa and Australia. These deposits made the Soviet Union into one of the world's largest producers of diamonds, and remain the economic mainstay of the area.
History
Historically Evenks have inhabited the basin of the Anabar River. Vasiliy Sychev was the first Russian to reach the river in 1643.