River · Russia
Vilyuy
The Vilyuy is the longest tributary of the Lena in Siberia. It rises on a high plateau in the Central Siberian Plateau and flows eastwards until it joins the Lena near Sangar, downstream of Yakutsk.
Picture credit: Staselnik (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Svetlana Ivanova (CC BY 3.0) · Staselnik (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Vilyuy?
The river starts here: Vilyuy Plateau in the Central Siberian Plateau, Russia.
It ends in the Lena near Sangar, downstream of Yakutsk.
Countries on the river: Russia.
The story behind it
For about seven months of the year the Vilyuy lies under ice: it freezes in the middle of October and only breaks up again in the middle of May. When the snow melts in spring, the water can rise by 10 to 15 metres. The river is rich in fish such as sturgeon, taimen, nelma, pike and burbot. In the 1950s diamonds were found in the Vilyuy region, and in 1954 a big deposit was discovered at Mirny. To make electricity for the diamond mines, people built a dam across the Vilyuy near the settlement of Chernyshevsky. Behind it, the water forms a lake about 400 kilometres long. Boats cannot get past the dam, because it has no locks. Further downstream lies the town of Vilyuysk, founded back in 1634. A mineral is even named after the river: wiluite.
Questions children ask
How long is the Vilyuy?
The Vilyuy is about 2 650 km long. That makes it the longest tributary of the Lena.
Why was a dam built on the Vilyuy?
The dam near Chernyshevsky makes electricity for the diamond mines of the region. A power line carries the energy north to the mines.
Where does the Vilyuy flow into?
It flows into the Lena from the left, near the settlement of Sangar, about 350 km downstream of Yakutsk. Opposite its mouth, the Ust-Vilyuy Range rises above the other bank of the Lena.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: