Shilka


Shilka

(shēl`kə), river, c.345 mi (560 km) long, formed E of Chita, Chita oblast, SE Siberian Russia, by the confluence of the Onon and Ingoda rivers, both of which rise along the Mongolian-Russian border. It flows northeast past Shilka, Sretensk (head of navigation), and Ust-Karsk, joining the Argun River to form the Amur River on the Russia-China border.

Shilka

 

a city (since 1951) and the administrative center of Shilka Raion, Chita Oblast, RSFSR. Shilka is situated in the Shilka River valley, 248 km east of Chita. The city has a station on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. In prerevolutionary Russia, Shilka was a place of political exile, and members of the Petrashevskii circle served sentences of hard labor in the local mines between 1850 and 1856. The city has a butter factory, a confectionary factory, and enterprises serving railroad transportation.


Shilka

 

a river in Chita Oblast, RSFSR; the left headstream of the Amur. The Shilka is 560 km long and drains an area of 206,000 sq km. It is formed by the confluence of the Onon and Ingoda rivers and flows through a deep valley between the Shilka and Amazar ranges on the north and the Borshchovochnyi Range on the south. It has a rapid current. In places the river divides into separate channels or forms river bars.

The Shilka is fed chiefly by rain. Highwater occurs in July and August, and freshets are common. The mean flow rate 149 km from the river’s mouth is 521 cu m per sec. The maximum flow rate on record is 11,400 cu m per sec (July 1958), and the minimum, 0.81 cu m per sec (March 1969). The river freezes over in late October or early November; parts of the upper course freeze completely in some winters. The ice breaks up in late April or the first half of May. The Shilka is navigable. The city of Sretensk is situated on the river.


Shilka

 

a mountain range in eastern Transbaikalia, in Chita Oblast, RSFSR. Located along the left bank of the Shilka River, the range is approximately 200 km long and reaches an elevation of 1,063 m. It is composed of granites, schists, and sandstones. The range is deeply dissected by the valleys of tributaries of the Shilka River. Larch taiga is found on the slopes.