Kuybyshev Reservoir
Large hydroelectric reservoir in western Russia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kuybyshev Reservoir or Kuybyshevskoye Reservoir (Russian: Куйбышевское водохранилище, romanized: Kuybyshevskoye vodokhranilishche) is a reservoir of the middle Volga and lower Kama in Chuvashia, Mari El Republic, Republic of Tatarstan, Samara Oblast and Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia.[1] It is sometimes called as Samara Reservoir and informally called Kuybyshev Sea. The Kuybyshev Reservoir has a surface area of 6,450 km² and a volume of 58 billion cubic meters. It is the largest reservoir in Europe and third in the world by surface area. The major cities of Kazan, Ulyanovsk, and Tolyatti are adjacent to the reservoir.
| Kuybyshev Reservoir | |
|---|---|
near Ulyanovsk | |
  Kuybyshev Reservoir Location within Samara Oblast | |
| Coordinates | 53°46′38″N 48°55′46″E |
| Lake type | Hydroelectric reservoir |
| Volga, Kama, Sviyaga, Kazanka, Bolshoy Cheremshan | |
| Volga | |
| Basin countries | Russia |
| Max. length | over 500 km (310 mi) |
| Max. width | 35 km (22 mi) |
| 6,450 km2 (2,490 sq mi) | |
Average depth | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Max. depth | 41 m (135 ft) |
| 57.3 km3 (13.7 cu mi) | |
Shore length1 | 2,604 km (1,618 mi) |
Surface elevation | 53 m (174 ft) |
| Islands | Sviyazhsk |
| Settlements | |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
The reservoir was created by the dam of Zhiguli Hydroelectric Station (formerly, V.I. Lenin Volga Hydroelectric Station), located between the cities of Zhigulevsk and Tolyatti in Samara Oblast.[2] It was filled in 1955–1957.[3]
With the filling of the reservoir in the 1950s, some villages and towns were submerged by the rising water and were rebuilt on higher ground. These included the old fortress town of Stavropol-on-Volga, which was replaced by Tolyatti. One district of Ulyanovsk is below water level and is protected from the reservoir by an embankment.[citation needed]
The reservoir serves as a critical "hotspot" for monitoring biological invasions in the Volga-Kama basin. Due to its transit location along the northern (Caspian-Volga-Baltic) invasive corridor, it acts as a major aggregation zone where a high diversity of alien fish species accumulates before potentially transitioning further into the Kama River ecosystem.[4]
Paleontology
In 1926, a fossilized tooth of Ptychodus latissimus paucisulcata was found in redeposited sediments of Tunguz sand spit, which was later flooded by the waters of the reservoir.[5]
