Onega lake. Karelia - Guide to Karelia. Lake Onega area: general information, characteristics and location

Its area with the islands, according to Strelbitsky, is 9751.1 km2

Lake Onega is elongated along the line north-north-west and maximum length it between the Black Sands in the south and the mouth of the Kumsa in the north reaches 220 km, and the greatest width from Logm Lake to the Pudozhsky churchyard is 86 km. The height of the lake is about 45 m. According to the nature of the structure, Lake Onega can be divided into two parts by a line running from Petrozavodsk to the mouth of the Vodla River. The entire southern part of the lake is one vast basin with a slightly winding coastline, while the northern part has the character of skerries: here the lake branches into many narrow and long bays, maintaining a general direction from north-northwest to south-southeast. This nature of the shores significantly increases the length of the coastline of the lake, reaching up to 1,280 kilometers.

The shores of Lake Onega are mostly elevated. In its northern and western parts are covered, the southern part of the banks is low and especially near the mouth of the Vytegra River. East coast sandy in the southern and middle parts, formed by the deposits of the lake itself; three terraces can be traced inland here; further north East Coast the lake becomes elevated and is composed of solid. The nature of the structure of the northwestern part of the lake, with its narrow bays, elongated from the northwest to the southeast and separated by the same narrow and long ridges, serves as one of the confirmations of the spread of an extensive cover here during the ice age.

Lake Onega in Medvezhyegorsk

Lake Onega receives a number of tributaries, of which the most significant flow into it from the southeast and east - these are the Vodla, Andoma and Vytegra rivers. Taking, in addition, many more rivers and streams that serve as the sources of a whole mass of lakes surrounding Lake Onega, the latter forms an extensive water basin, occupying up to 58,328 square meters. kilometers. The only source of all this mass of water is the Svir River, which flows out of the southwestern end of the lake and flows into Ladoga, entering, together with the latter, into the system of the Neva river basin. Lake Onega, occupying an intermediate position between and, could play a big role in the inland waterway between and, if there was a navigable connection with the latter.

Coastline differs sharply in character in its southern and northern parts. As already mentioned above, in the first part the coasts are slightly indented and there are no deeply protruding bays. On the contrary, the northern and northeastern parts of the lake are replete with bays, and, just as it is seen in Ladoga. A particularly large tortuosity of the coastline begins at Petrozavodsk and ends at Povenets. All the most significant bays are located along this stretch of the coast; of these, the most notable are the following six:

To the north-west of Petrozavodsk, a vast bay of the same name stretches, which, together with Lake Logmo, which forms its continuation, reaches 17 km. length; at the entrance it has about 7 km. width; near the entrance there are several islands from the south and from the north.

Further north is a large bay Kondopazhskaya, extending deep into the mainland for 30 km. The width of the entrance is about 7 km, but it narrows to 5 km. the island of Suisari. Like the Petrozavodsk Bay, Kondopazhskaya Bay also has lakes as its continuation, stretched in that direction. The Suna River flows into the western part of the bay, on which the famous Kivach waterfall flows.

Lizhma Bay- a narrow and long bay, jutting out into the mainland for 35 kilometers; its width at the entrance is about 5 km., in some places it narrows to several hundred meters between the islands, of which there are quite a lot. The river Lizhma flows into it.

Unitskaya Bay, up to 45 km long. and a width of 6 km. up to several hundred meters. Guba is occupied by a whole archipelago of islands.

Guba Velikaya, jutting out for 20 kilometers into the Zaonezhie peninsula; the width at the entrance to the bay reaches 9-10 km. Several islands are located in the southwestern wider part.

Povenets Bay- this is the name of the entire north-eastern part of the lake, separating the Zaonezhie peninsula from the mainland. Its greatest width is opposite the city of Povenets, where it reaches 20 km. Three more very narrow and long bays (up to 20 km long, 2 km wide and less) separate from this bay, extending far into the northeastern part of the Zaonezhie peninsula.

Peninsulas and islands. Due to the long and narrow bays of the northwestern part of the lake, there is no shortage of peninsulas, of which the most significant lies between the Unitskaya Bay and the Povenetsky Bay. Its length, counting from the top of the Unitskaya Bay, is up to 70 km, and its maximum width is up to 32 km. The width of the isthmus connecting it with the mainland is about 10 km. In addition to the Great Bay and three others, separated from the Povenets Bay, the interior of the peninsula is cut by several more narrow and long lakes, stretched parallel to all the bays of this part of the lake.

There are many islands, but they are all located in its northern part: the largest of them is Klimetsky, at the southeastern tip of Zaonezhye. It is about 24 km long. and about 7 km wide. Of the others are remarkable: Kizh, Kerk, Deer, Sennogubsky, Suisari. Some islands, especially Klimets, are quite densely populated.

Onega lake. Great Guba

According to the works, the line is 21 meters deep, following, in general, quite close to the outline of the shores, and is significantly removed from them at the southwestern tip of the lake. Then this line completely leaves aside: the Unitskaya Bay, the strait between the island of Klimetsky and Zaonezhie, the Velikaya Bay and the middle part of the Povenets Bay. Inside this isobath, in the northern part of the southern, wide half of the lake, a vast area is occupied by a basin with depths of 9–12 meters, in the middle of which there are several places with depths reaching 14.2–14.5 meters.

The greatest depths are found north of the line Petrozavodsk - the mouth of the Vodla River. Here is the greatest depth of 124 m. And further to the north there are several more depressions with depths of 111, 115.5 and even 132.5 meters. These depths are located between Zaonezhie and the mainland. It should be noted that all with the greatest depths, both in the northern and southern parts of the lake, are elongated along the direction characteristic of Lake Onega from the north-north-west to the south-south-east. Then significant depths are still found in the northernmost tip of the Povenets Bay, where they reach up to 92.4 meters.

Water level and current. The correct annual fluctuations in the level of Lake Onega are insignificant: the largest level difference measured so far (in 20 years) is 1.8 meters. These studies did not show the existence of any regular currents in the lake. In the middle, pelagic part, they depend on the direction of the blowers, taking on a constant character of the current only at the mouths of the rivers flowing into the lake and against the mouth of the Svir River - the source of the lake.

Opening and freezing. There are very few observations on this issue: at Ascension, the average opening occurs on May 5, at Petrozavodsk, too, and freezing at Ascension on December 22, at Petrozavodsk on November 26. The average number of days of ice-free surface for the first point is 231, for the second - 205. In winter, the lake is covered with a continuous ice cover, along which there is communication across the lake. The duration of navigation is, of course, somewhat less than the number of ice-free days.

general information

Numbers

Climate and weather

Economy

Attractions

Curious facts

The average depth of the lake is 31 m, maximum depth in the deepest northern part of the lake it reaches 127 m. The average depth in the central part is 50-60 m, closer to the south the bottom rises to 20-30 m. Lake Onega is characterized by numerous pronounced rises and falls of the bottom. In the northern part of the lake there are many troughs, alternating with high bottom rises, forming banks, on which industrial trawlers often fish. Much of the bottom is covered with silt. Typical forms are luds (shallow stony shoals), selgas (deep-water elevations of the bottom with stony and sandy soils, in the southern part of the lake), underwater ridges and ridges, as well as depressions and pits. Such a relief creates favorable conditions for the life of fish. The regime of Lake Onega is characterized by a spring rise in water, which lasts 1.5-2 months, with an annual water level amplitude of up to 0.9-1 m. The flow from the lake is regulated by the Verkhnesvirskaya hydroelectric power station. Rivers bring up to 74% of the incoming part of the water balance (15.6 km 3 per year), 25% falls on precipitation. 84% of the expenditure part of the water balance falls on the runoff from the lake along the Svir River (an average of 17.6 km 3 per year), 16% - on evaporation from the water surface. The highest water levels of the lake are in June - August, the lowest - in March - April. There are frequent unrest, storm waves reach up to 2.5 m in height. The lake freezes in the central part in mid-January, in the coastal part and in the bays - in late November - December. At the end of April, the mouths of the tributaries are opened, the open part of the lake - in May. The water in the open deep parts of the lake is transparent, with visibility up to 7-8 m. In the bays it is slightly less, up to one meter or less. The water is fresh, with a mineralization of 10 mg/l.

Among the forests, rocks and swamps of Karelia, a large lake of a completely unusual shape has spread its vast expanses of water. Like an unknown monster, it stretched its tentacles-gulfs far to the north; one of them in its shape resembles a trunk, the other - a powerful claw of a huge cancer. This is Lake Onega, or Onego, as the Russians called it from time immemorial, the second largest freshwater lake in Europe.

It is said that in the Old Finnish language the word "onego" means "smoking lake", and this name appeared due to frequent fogs in the area. However, some geographers do not agree with this and believe that the name passed to the lake from the river flowing to the east of it (or, conversely, the river took its name from the lake). Onego is also called the younger sister of the great Ladoga. And although it is two times smaller, it is almost a good fifty kilometers longer. It is curious to find out: why do lake scientists consider these giant reservoirs of Europe to be sisters?

For this, it turns out, there are serious reasons. The giant lakes are related not only by the fact that they are the largest on the continent and are located close to each other. The main thing is that they were born almost simultaneously after the retreat of the last glaciers. Large depressions, the bottoms of which are occupied by the Ladoga and Onega lakes, existed even in preglacial times. They arose in ancient geological epochs during shifts and faults in the earth's crust. Glaciers, which repeatedly advanced from the north to the territory of Europe, smoothed out, or, as they say, “ploughed out”, the bottom of the lake basins, made them more even.

The southern and northern parts of Lake Onega differ sharply from each other, especially in the structure and outline of the shores. South part lakes - this is a vast reach, the Central Lake Onega. It is concentrated most of lake waters, and the depth here is significant - in places 100-110 meters. The shores are varied - rocky, sandy, swampy. Completely different shores in the northern part of the lake. Here it is divided into two bays - Big and Small Lake Onega. Crashing into the southern tip of the Baltic Crystalline Shield, they stretched far to the north.

The eastern bay from the Small Lake Onega stretches northward to the city of Medvezhyegorsk and in that area is called Povenetsky. From him, the city of Povenets got its name, where one of the most important artificial waterways of our country begins - the White Sea-Baltic Canal, which connected the Volga with the White Sea. Big Lake Onega is divided into bays, which are called here bays. There are three of them - Kondopozhskaya, Ilem-Gorskaya and Lizhemskaya. The shores of bays are very indented. They are covered with forest, rocky and often break off directly to the water with sheer cliffs.

Numerous small bays are separated by headlands. The ends of the capes seem to have been crushed by someone with a giant hammer, and therefore stone placers, or, in the local language, luds, formed here in abundance. When they rage strong winds, the moons protrude from the water. Between large bays there is a vast peninsula of Zaonezhie - the land of forests, rocks, swamps and ancient legends.

Lake Onega is rich in islands. There are more than one and a half thousand of them. Covered with dense forests, with banks, indented bays and bays, the islands give the lake a peculiar charm and picturesqueness. This was noted by the writer M. M. Prishvin: “The islands seemed to rise above the water and hung in the air, as it seems here in very calm weather ...” Indeed, the islands seem to be “hanging”, because in clear weather they are, as if in a mirror are reflected in the flat surface of the lake.

The largest among the islands are Klimetsky, Bolshoy Lelikovsky, Suysari. There are wild, uninhabited islands where a human foot rarely sets foot, and there are those that are famous and known to the whole world, such as Kizhi, a nature reserve famous for its wooden monuments of folk architecture, or South Deer, the burial place of the ancient inhabitants of this region. Numerous large and small rivers replenish Lake Onega with their waters.

Among them are Shuya, Suna, Vodla, Andoma, Vytegra. Some of them are stormy, with rapids and waterfalls, others are quiet and calm. The position of its level depends on how much water the rivers bring to the basin of the lake. In the spring, during the melting of snow, the tributaries become high-water, intensely feed the lake. Its level rises until the end of June. The snow reserves in the basins will run out - the river flow will drop sharply, the lake level will begin to gradually decrease.

Summer in Prionezhye is cool, breezes often blow. During the day they blow from the lake to land, and at night - into reverse direction. The lake is rarely calm - only on quiet summer white nights. Lake Onega is amazingly beautiful with its severe northern beauty, especially when its motionless surface is painted with pinkish reflections of the morning dawn. Autumn is a rainy time, with winds, storms, frosts. Storms rage frequently. They swoop in suddenly, uplift big waves, break the rafts of the forest, drive logs to the shores. Uncomfortable at this time on the lake.

From November to mid-April, a cold winter reigns in Prionezhye with snowstorms and snowstorms, frosts reach -30-40 degrees. At the beginning of winter, first of all, shallow bays and bays in the northern part of the lake, sheltered from gusts of wind, are covered with ice. The freeze-up gradually spreads to the south, covering all new parts of the lake. Central Lake Onega does not freeze for a long time. In a large mass of its waters there is still a lot of heat, and the winds that walk over the lake help to fight the freeze-up, breaking up the freezing areas.

Only in mid-January, frost conquers the water element, calms it down, dresses it with ice armor. Under the ice cover, Lake Onega sleeps until the beginning of spring. In May, the ice melts.

The northern nature of Prionezhie is beautiful. This is a truly forested region with rich timber resources. Long-staple Karelian spruce grows here, from which excellent quality paper is produced, beautiful furniture, famous all over the world, is made from the famous Karelian birch. There are protected groves here, which Peter the Great bequeathed to his descendants. Moose, bears, wolves, wild boars, lynx, marten, otter, and squirrel are found in the dense Onega forests. The local reservoirs have become the second home of the North American muskrat. There are a great many birds here, including waterfowl; only about 200 species. The owner of the forest jungle is the royal capercaillie.

Forests of Prionezhie - a huge natural berry plantation, where all kinds of berries are presented in abundance northern edge- cranberries, strawberries, cranberries, cloudberries, blueberries, raspberries, currants, blueberries. Lake Onega is also famous for its fish wealth. It is inhabited by all kinds of fish typical for the lakes of Karelia. Perch, whitefish, grayling, smelt, vendace, roach are the most common fish, they can be found in any lake nook. Lamprey is found, for spawning it rises up the tributaries of the lake. Valuable commercial fish live here - salmon and trout.

By the way, the trout was not found in the lake before. She is a gift from Sevan, a guest from sunny Armenia. From there, millions of eggs of this fish were delivered by plane. The famous Sevan trout (ishkhan) took root, and Lake Onega became its second homeland. The Baikal omul also settled here. The lake has always played an important role in human life. It is sung in ancient epic works and in ancient legends. Over the course of thousands of years, man has created an original culture here, the material traces of which have survived to this day.

In one of the most famous museums in the world - the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg - you can see exhibits that tell about the culture and art of the ancient inhabitants of our Motherland. In the center of one of the halls is a huge dark red stone slab; its polished surface is dotted with images of deer, swans, fish, people; here you can see some mysterious signs, in the form of circles and lines. This granite block is a part of Lake Onega. It was broken out on the rocky cape Peri Nos and brought to the Hermitage for public viewing. The exhibit weighs tens of tons.

The drawings carved on the rock, which was brought from the shore of Lake Onega, are about four thousand years old. Neolithic man lived in many parts of the European North. He, obviously, was not very afraid of the winter cold, as evidenced by the remains of ancient settlement sites, found even on the shores of the White and Barents Seas. The collected information enabled scientists to map the settlement of Neolithic man. It clearly shows that in some places the settlements are closely grouped, forming, as it were, peculiar "cities" or densely populated areas.

These include sections of the middle course of the Sukhona River, the shores of the Beloye, Bozhe, Lachi, Onega lakes, the coast of the Onega Peninsula and the Kandalaksha Bay. And yet, of all such places, the shores of Lake Onega were the most inhabited.

The ancient Onega Lake obviously played a special role in the life of Neolithic man. It was here that two greatest monument antiquity: Onega sanctuary and City of dead- Oleneostrovsky burial ground. Several rocky capes jut out into the lake from the eastern shore. Some of them are poorly marked and do not have names, but five other capes are the most famous. These are Karetsky Nos, Peri Nos, Besov Nos, Kladovets and Nazhy Nos. The capes are composed of a dark red layer of granite. Over the centuries, the wind and waves have polished the surface of the coastal rocks, it has become even and smooth. On the rocks, right next to the water, one can see some images carved on the surface of granite. They are invisible and somewhat reminiscent of children's drawings. There are many primitive images of men, deer, birds, frogs, lizards, boats, tools.

The drawings are arranged in groups and singly. Often there are episodes of hunting and fishing. There are images of fantastic animals and birds, and next to them are drawings of real animals. These are petroglyphs (ancient rock paintings), creations of artists of the Stone Age, for which polished coastal rocks served as a canvas, and a flint chisel served as a brush. About six hundred such petroglyphs were discovered on the shores of Lake Onega. Especially a lot of them, and the most diverse, is located on Cape Besov Nos. locals They called these drawings "demonic traces." The area of ​​rock carvings was a natural temple of the ancients, where religious rites and ceremonies were performed. Ancient people were adherents of the cosmic cult, especially the cult of the Sun, as evidenced by the numerous images of this luminary. The ancient inhabitants of the Onega coast had not only a sanctuary for performing religious rites, but also a family tomb where the dead were buried. It is known in the scientific world as the Oleneostrovsky burial ground and is located on the South Deer Island. Curious how the burial took place.

A hole was dug to a depth of about one and a half meters. Its bottom was abundantly sprinkled with red ocher. She was identified with fire and was supposed to scare away the demons of evil. Together with the deceased, objects that belonged to him during his lifetime, including stone axes and knives, spears and arrows, were placed in the pit. Various stone and bone amulets have been found - figures of people and animals; they were the owner's friends: they were supposed to protect from danger, illness, the evil eye, help in hunting and fishing.

Lake Onega has long since faithfully served man. He built a dwelling on the banks, hunted in the coastal forests, and fished in its waters. But the importance of the lake has increased even more in our era, when the paths leading to the near and distant seas cross - the White, Baltic, Caspian, Azov and Black. Three great waterways lead from Lake Onega to the north, west and south; The White Sea-Baltic Canal connects it with the White Sea, and the Volga-Balt (as the Volga-Baltic Waterway is called) - with by the Baltic Sea and Volga. Glide through its expanses of water passenger liners, ships, boats and, like giant snow-white birds, "meteors" and "rockets" rush.

On the shores of the lake there are several dozen ports and marinas, and among them the largest are Petrozavodsk, Kondopoga, Medvezhyegorsk, Povenets. Millions of tons of cargo and tens of thousands of passengers are annually transported across the lake. Vessels coming from the Volga or the Baltic to the North cross Lake Onega and approach the city of Povenets. This is where the lake path ends. Then they go along an artificial waterway - the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Lake Onega is located in the center of another waterway - the Volga-Balta. This path starts from the shores of the Baltic Sea, from St. Petersburg, goes along the Neva, the Ladoga canals, the Svir, Lake Onega and the Volga-Baltic Canal.

That's how great is the role of Lake Onega, which lies at the crossroads of large waterways, which are of great national economic importance! This does not exhaust the value of the lake; there are many industries that widely use it Natural resources and, above all, fish resources.

Did you know that pearls are found on the coast of Lake Onega? In the mouth sections of some tributaries, there is a bivalve mollusk, which forms small mother-of-pearl balls ranging in size from a millet grain to a large pea. It takes a lot of work for pearl divers to find among the shells on the silted bottom of the river one in which the treasured pearl has grown. The waters of Lake Onega are used to supply settlements and industrial enterprises - timber processing plants, shipyards, machine-building plants, pulp and paper mills. The coast of the lake is a natural pantry of a wonderful stone.

Multi-color building materials are mined here: red, pink, white and other shades of marble, black and greenish diabase, the famous Shoksha raspberry-colored quartzite, red, dark red and gray granite. A museum-reserve of wooden architecture has been created on the island of Kizhi, where many monuments of folk art have been collected. There is something to see, something to be sincerely surprised at the famous Onega Lake. Everything here is unusual - both ancient rock paintings, and immortal creations of Russian architects of past centuries, and monumental monuments modern era- settlements that arose from the ashes of conflagrations after the Great Patriotic War - and completely new cities created in recent years.

No wonder Lake Onega attracts thousands of visitors from around the world to its shores.

is the second largest lake in Europe. Its length from south to north is 248 km, from east to west - 96 km. Lake Onega is two times smaller, the mass of its water is 3 times less. However, Onega water is of high quality, it is much cleaner than water Ladogi and even. The maximum depth of Lake Onega is 120 meters.

Currently, there are 1,500 islands on the lake, one of which is the main attraction and important architectural monument - Kizhi churchyard. Lake Onega has a very complex bottom topography. Its geography is characterized by pronounced depressions and elevations of the bottom, it is characterized by shallow rocky shoals, underwater ridges, selgas, pits and depressions. Such a peculiar relief creates best conditions for the life of the inhabitants of the lake depths. In total, more than 45 species of fish belonging to 13 different families are found here. It flows into Lake Onega 110 rivers and streams. The largest of them: Shuya, Suna, Vodla, Andoma. The Svir River is its only drain.

The shores of Lake Onega mostly pebbly and sandy, occasionally there are outcrops of rocky capes and small islands. The most famous is Cape Besov Nos, located in the eastern part of the lake, where images of people and animals carved into the rocks were found. The northern shores of the lake are very indented, have many hills, and consist of crystalline rocks. For southern shores smooth outlines are characteristic, there are many lowlands covered with dense forests.

It is becoming increasingly popular among tourists, yachtsmen and lovers of elite fishing. Various festivals are held here every year. maritime museum"Polar Odyssey" of the city of Petrozavodsk, old wooden ships are being built.

Ladoga lake represents the largest freshwater lake Europe. Its length from north to south reaches 185 km, width - 120 km. The surface area of ​​the lake mirror is 18,400 square kilometers. Neva is the only river, flowing out of the lake, while about a dozen streams and rivers flow into it Leningrad region, Karelia. The Svir River connects [...]