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River

Olyokma

1,436 km from source to mouth · Russia.

RussiaRussiaFlows into Lena River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

1,436km

Average flow

2,000m³/s

Basin

210,000km²

Drop

1,008m

from 1,031 m to 23 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

1,436 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,031 m23 m
Yablonoi Mountainsat 1,031 m0 km
Srednyaya Moklatributary280 km
Moklatributary375 km
Porog Tumullur790 km
Porog Yurga-Sinyakh843 km
Krestyakhtributary1,047 km
Charatributary1,310 km
Lena Riverat 23 m1,436 km
05001,0001,436 km
  1. 0 kmYablonoi Mountainsat 1,031 m
  2. 280 kmSrednyaya Moklatributary
  3. 375 kmMoklatributary
  4. 405 kmTungir Rivertributary
  5. 684 kmNyukzhatributary
  6. 759 kmKhanitributary
  7. 790 kmPorog Tumullur
  8. 843 kmPorog Yurga-Sinyakh
  9. 1,047 kmKrestyakhtributary
  10. 1,310 kmCharatributary
  11. 1,436 kmLena Riverat 23 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Siberia, Russia

At the mouth it carries 1,950 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.3 seconds. It drops from 1,031 m to 23 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 210,000 km², about the size of BY. 37,000 people live in it. Highest water: August; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • OlyokminskLargest city on its banks · 8,813 people
  • Olyokminsk Airport (OLZ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 4 km from the city
  • On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to AugustThe best months to visit

Olyokma, month by month

Highest water: August

Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from October to March. Best months to visit: from June to August.

130
-31°10 mmJan
130
-26°8 mmFeb
130
-16°9 mmMar
130
-4°16 mmApr
2,700
6°35 mmMay
3,600
14°68 mmJun
4,200
17°76 mmJul
4,800
14°74 mmAug
3,400
6°45 mmSep
2,500
-5°19 mmOct
1,500
-20°14 mmNov
650
-29°12 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 130 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,800 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Olyokma: the basin in numbers

208,376 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 37,000people live in the basin
  • 0/km²people per km²
  • 807maverage altitude of the basin
  • 420mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -8.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 10%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 79%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 76% Forest

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Olyokma: what you find on the way

  • 1Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Olyokma in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (2)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Porog Tumullurkm 752
  2. Porog Yurga-Sinyakhkm 802

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Gora Buru8.9 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Olyokma: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Olyokma: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth62 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (9)

Also: Chara, Nyukzha, Tungir River, Mokla, Srednyaya Mokla, Khani, Krestyakh, Verkhnyaya Mokla, Tungurcha

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q26358) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesCascadyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit