Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
{{infobox river|river name	Kuban River
Image name	Kuban River.png
Origin	Russia
Mouth	Azov Sea
Basin countries	Russia
Length km	870
mouth elevation m	0
Elevation m	1339
Discharge	425 m3/s (maxiumum near Krasnodar)
Watershed km2	57900 }}

The Kuban River (, ) is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai (660 km) but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea.

The Kuban, known to Herodotus as ''Hypanis'', flows 870 km north and west from its source near Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains, eventually reaching Temryuk Bay in the Sea of Azov. It is navigable up to Krasnodar.

Major cities along the Kuban are Karachayevsk, Cherkessk, Nevinnomyssk, Armavir, Ust-Labinsk, Krasnodar and Temryuk. Despite its name, Slavyansk-na-Kubani stays not on the Kuban River, but on its tributary Protoka.

Geography and hydrology

The river originates on the slopes of Mount Elbrus and forms at the merge of its two tributaries, Ullukam and Uchkulam; from the source of Ullukam to the delta, its length is 906 km. Between the source and Nevinnomyssk, the river flows mostly in the deep and narrow gorge, has many thresholds and rapidly changes its elevation. Near Nevinnomyssk there is a dam to supply water to the Nevinnomyssk channel. In its central part, until the confluence of the Bolshaya Laba River, the Kuban River flows in a wide flat valley with terraced slopes. Then it bends to the west and develops a left-bank floodplain, which is 4 km wide near Ust-Labinsk. There it is winding and has many shoals and rapids. Below the mouth of Laba, the river widens up to 20 km. Between the mouths of the rivers Laba and Afips, there are Adyghe marshes covering an area of about 300 km²; and below river Afips, about 800 km² is occupied by the Zakubanskie marshes. At 116 km from the mouth, the Kuban converges with a major tributary Protoka (length 130 km). Near the mouth, the Kuban narrows to 3–4 km and then forms a delta covering about 4300 km². The delta contains numerous limans, some of which have gradually separated from the river. Until the 19th century, the Kuban River was discharging into both the Black and the Azov seas. However later, the raising grounds redirected the river entirely to the Azov Sea.

In the upper stream, the river is mostly fed by glaciers and high-mountain snow (49%). Near Krasnodar, this contribution drops to 32%; meanwhile, the water supply from the subsoil water increases from 21% to 32%, and of the rainwater from 27% to 32%. The river does not freeze over because of a relatively warm climate and rapid flow in the upper part. The Kuban River is characterized by numerous (6–7 through the year) floods due to rains and thaws, both in the winter and summer. The water level used to fluctuate by up to 5 meters, with the maximum in July and minimum in February. The amplitude of these fluctuations was reduced by construction of the Nevinnomyssk channel and the Tschikskoe, Krasnodar and Shapsug reservoirs. These measures also provided water for fish farming and rice fields.

The average annual water consumption from the Kuban River is at its maximum near Krasnodar at about 425 m³/s. It was higher by some 30 m³/s but was lowered by the reservoir construction. The average consumption near Armavir is 163 m³/s and it varied between 1160 and 0.95 m³/s before the filling of the Krasnodar Reservoir in the 1980s. The annual outflow to the Azov Sea is about 12–13 km³ of water, 8 million tonnes of sediments and 4 million tonnes of dissolved salts.

The average turbidity is 682 g/m³. Water salinity increases toward the delta; it normally varies between 50 and 400 mg/L and may reach 1000 mg/L in some areas. All major tributaries flow into the Kuban from the left and originate in the Caucasus Mountains. Those tributaries are Bolshoi Zelenchuk, Malyi Zelenchuk, Urup, Laba, Belaya and Pshish.

Flora

The river flows through three types of landscape: mixed forests of the Caucasus in the south, Crimean Submediterranean forests in the central part, and steppe in the north. The Caucasus mixed forests are rich in tree species; at mid-elevation, they are dominated by Georgian oak (''Quercus iberica''), hornbeam (''Carpinus caucasica''), sweet chestnut (''Castanea sativa'') and Oriental beech (''Fagus orientalis''). Higher forests are coniferous and consist of fir (''Abies nordmanniana'') and spruce (''Picea orientalis''). The Crimean Submediterranean forests are also coniferous, dominated by fir and spruce.

The vegetation of the delta mostly consists of thickets of reeds, grassweed, sedges, bur-reed and cattail. Less frequent are Tape-grasses, grass rush, arrowhead and other water-hungry plants. The estuaries have rich underwater vegetation in the form of stoneworts algae, pondweed, hornworts, lilies and other species. The total area of such vegetation is 40–50 thousand hectares. Some estuaries contain thickets of lotus which was brought to the area from Africa.

Fauna

The wide delta of Kuban, with its abundant estuaries, is especially rich in plankton and benthos. There are about 400 species of zooplankton, including rotifers, copepods, cladocerans, mollusks, worms, etc., providing abundant food for fish. The fish fauna of the Kuban differs from that of the nearby Don and Volga rivers and contains more than 65 species from 16 families. They are dominated by the genera Gobio, Romanogobio, Squalius and Chondrostoma and contain such species as carp, Prussian carp, roach, bream, Silver Bream, pike, perch, ruffe, chalcalburnus, ''Sprattus'', ''Mugil'' and others. Some species such as silver carp and Grass Carp were acclimatized in the last decade.

Endemic species include the Kuban barbel (''Barbus kubanicus''), ''Gobio kubanicus'', Little Kuban gudgeon (''Romanogobio parvus''), Kuban long-barbelled gudgeon (''R. pentatrichus''), Kuban nase (''Chondrostoma Kubanicum''), ''Sabanejewia kubanica'', ''Oxynoemacheilus merga'' and Aphips chub.

Kuban barbel and Kuban nase are the only species of their genera within the Kuban basin. They prefer mountainous streams with a rapid flow and sandy or rocky bottom on which they spawn. After the construction of the Krasnodar Dam in the 1980s, the Kuban barbel became rare in the lower Kuban. On the contrary, Kuban nase moves downstream to lower sections or larger tributaries in winter. It is rather sensitive to the water quality, especially turbidity. Its population also declined after the construction of the Krasnodar Dam, but is still large in the middle and upper parts of the Kuban and its tributaries.

The Kuban gudgeon and Little Kuban gudgeon are restricted to the sections with moderately fast flow and gravel or sandy bottoms; they are abundant in the middle part of the river. The Kuban gudgeon is unusual by having five anal branched rays. Aphips chub (''Squalius aphipsi'') occurs in southern tributaries of Kuban and is hiding in small pools in the summer. It spawns in rapid and shallow streams (10–20 cm) with a pebble or rocky bottom. It does not migrate much, but it moves downstream in winter to find deeper pools and returns upstream in summer. This species is abundant throughout the whole river.

Before the construction of dams, the River had migratory stocks of sturgeons (''Acipenser gueldenstaedtii'', ''A. stellatus'', ''Huso huso'') and cyprinids (''Alburnus mento'', vimba). These species have low presence nowadays.

The delta of the Kuban River and its estuaries are a popular resting ground for various migratory birds, especially waterfowl such as wild geese, ducks, cormorants, pelicans, swans and gray herons. Also abundant are birds of prey, such as falcons, as well as foxes and wild cats. Muskrats were brought here in the 20th century for commercial fur production.

Geological history

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Azov Sea was much larger and covered the delta of the Kuban River. Deposition of silt by the Kuban gradually pushed out the sea and shaped the delta with numerous limans and shallow estuaries. Frequent eruptions of the mud volcanoes contributed to this deposition process. There are about 25 mud volcanoes in the area and some are still active.

Human activities

Kuban River gave its name to the Kuban Cossacks who settled in its basin in the 18th–19th centuries.

The delta of Kuban is an important rice-growing region of Russia. Also developed here is fishery with the major commercial species including perch, roach and chalcalburnus. The river is navigated up to Krasnodar where it feeds the Krasnodar Thermal Power Plant. The major cities on the river are Karachayevsk, Cherkessk, Nevinnomyssk, Armavir, Novokubansk, Kropotkin, Ust-Labinsk, Krasnodar (administrative center of Krasnodar Krai) and Temryuk.

References

Category:Rivers of the Republic of Adygea Category:Rivers of Karachay-Cherkessia Category:Rivers of Krasnodar Krai Category:Rivers of Stavropol Krai Category:Sea of Azov Category:Kuban

ar:الكوبان be:Рака Кубань bg:Кубан (река) ca:Riu Kuban cv:Кубань (юханшыв) cs:Kubáň (řeka) da:Kuban de:Kuban et:Kuban es:Río Kubán eo:Kuban fr:Kouban (fleuve) ko:쿠반 강 it:Kuban' kbd:Псыжъ krc:Къобан (суу) la:Hypanis lt:Kubanė hu:Kubány nl:Koeban (rivier) ja:クバン川 no:Kuban nn:Kuban pl:Kubań pt:Rio Kuban ro:Kuban ru:Кубань (река) sk:Kubáň (rieka) fi:Kuban (joki) sv:Kuban tr:Kuban Nehri uk:Кубань (річка) vi:Sông Kuban zh:庫班河

Kuban (; ) is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, Volga Delta and the Caucasus. Krasnodar Krai is often referred to as Kuban, both officially and unofficially, although the term is not exclusive to the krai and accommodates the republics of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, and parts of Stavropol Krai.

Cossack settlement

The settlement of Kuban and of the adjacent Black Sea region occurred gradually for over a century, and was heavily influenced by the outcomes of the conflicts between Russia and Turkey. In the mid-18th century, the area was predominantly settled by the mountainous Adyghe tribes. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, the population of the area started to show more pro-Russian tendencies.

In order to stop Turkish ambitions to use Kuban region to facilitate the return of the Crimea, Russia started to establish a network of fortifications along the Kuban River in the 1770s. After the Russian annexation of the Crimea, right-bank Kuban, and Taman in 1783, the Kuban River became the border of the Russian Empire. New fortresses were built on the Kuban in the 1780s–1790s.

Until the 1790s, these fortresses and the abandoned Cossack settlements on the Laba River and in Taman remained the only indication of Russian presence in the area. More intensive settlement started in 1792–1794, when Black Sea Cossack Host and Don Cossacks were re-settled to this area by the Russian government in order to strengthen the southern borders.

In the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, the right bank of the Kuban River was settled. At the same time, first settlements appear on the coast of the Black Sea and on the plain between the Kuban and Bolshaya Laba Rivers. During the second half of the 19th century, the settlement rate intensified, and the territory was administratively organized into Kuban Oblast and Black Sea Okrug (which later became Black Sea Governorate).

The location of the territory along the border had a significant effect on its administrative division, which incorporated the elements of civil and military governments.

See also

Kuban Cossacks

Kuban People's Republic

Kuban-Black Sea Soviet Republic

Kuban Soviet Republic

Ukrainians in the Kuban

FC Kuban Krasnodar

Ethnic Cleansing of Circassians

References

Sources

Category:Krasnodar Krai Category:History of Kuban Category:Traditional subdivisions of Russia Category:Areas of traditional spread of Ukrainians and Ukrainian language

cs:Kubáň de:Kuban-Gebiet fr:Kouban hr:Kuban (regija) he:קובאן (חבל ארץ בקווקז) ka:ყუბანი pl:Kubań (kraina) pt:Kuban ro:Kuban (regiune geografică) ru:Кубань fi:Kuban (alue) sv:Kuban uk:Кубань