— KHOSHOUTOVSKY
under the name Ergen, he heads south, where he disappears into the sandy steppes. The further liquidity of the Volga flows, but according to the assumptions of Humboldt, Gmelin, Pallas and other scientists, like the entire area of the present Astrakhan province, it was once the bottom of the then huge Cassia Sea, extending north to the Common Syrt, west to the Ergen Mountains and east to the spurs of the Ural Mountains.
Without encountering, especially on the left bank, any obstacles to its flow, the Volga along its entire length from Sarepta to the mouth is fragmented into many branches, longitudinal and transverse channels, so formed by the Volga.
cov; We have already mentioned the main one - Akhtuby - above, but the rest are
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nykh reaches 200 pieces. These channels, in the form of small rivers similar to natural canals, drain the soil here in all possible directions, one way or another connecting either with the main channel or with the Akhtuba; The local name for them is yoriki, and in those cases when a brick, having sunk into the hard ground, has made its way through the steppe, it is called a sub-wall. It turns out that a small yorik, which at first looked like a ditch, gradually enlarges and receives more and more water, expands its bed and turns into a real river, and it happens like this: a dry brick at one end forms the so-called ilmen, which will eventually become overgrown with reeds and its appearance resembles a swamp.
In the spring, all these volozhkas, yoriks, sills and ilmens completely disappear: the flood merges them with the main Volga into one common giant channel, and then one single, formidable water source is formed, 30 to 40 versts wide. This happens in May, when the water level in the Volga rises in the upper and middle reaches of the river by 5-6 and even 7 fathoms, and in the lower reaches by two to three fathoms. In the end, as the water level drops, it constantly turns out that the Volga is in front of the Astrakhan province! and shallower, even before Tsaritsyn; The reason for this phenomenon must be sought precisely in the many side channels on which the great river wastes a lot of water. These same channels also explain how capricious the lower reaches of the Volga are and how often the location of the fairway changes there; It happens that where last year ships deep in the water passed freely, this year there are shallows, and it happens the other way around. G. Monastyrshy in his books, published in 1884, points out, for example, such a whim of the river: opposite Astrakhan there was a large island, more than 2 miles long and all covered with buildings; This island was gradually washed away by the spring waters and in the prison by 1884 not only did it not exist, but even on its site there was enormous depth. Similarly, new islands were formed on the Volg, of course not all at once, but gradually: at first, a shoal formed under the water; then it protrudes onto the surface of the water and exists under the name of the center, which has the appearance of a completely flat space of soil that barely protrudes above the water; This middle gradually increases in depth, together with the darkness, rising and through Fekolko Lit - this is already an island, covered not only with grass and bushes, but even with trees. There are quite a few such islands on the Volga; They arose within the memory of living people, and are now covered with forests and meadows. Let us note at the same time that the Great River is inclined to form large islands only not in its lower reaches; there, on the contrary, its whims tend more towards destruction, and if it forms new islands, then only small ones of pure sand, and therefore short-lived, washed away by its own current. The destructive effect of the flowing Volga is also evident in relation to the banks, especially to the left. Thus, the bank of the Vmfetf with the former Boldinsky monastery was torn off below Astrakhan and it was torn off despite all kinds of attempts on the part of the monks to embank the shore with fascines and flood it with barges with stones.
Near Astrakhan, the Volga separates the Boldinsky branch (according to metny, the name is simply Bolda). If you believe the residents of the city, then this sleeve, like the other
The main branches of the Volga mouth are becoming wider and wider every year.
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This phenomenon can be explained by "