River
Selenga
1,024 km from source to mouth · Russia and Mongolia.
Russia and MongoliaFlows into Lake Baikal
In numbers
Length
1,024km
Average flow
940m³/s
Basin
447,000km²
Drop
728m
from 1,177 m to 449 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
1,024 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmDelgermörönat 1,177 m
- 5 kmIder Rivertributary
- 5 kmDelgermöröntributary
- 165 kmKhanui Rivertributary
- 286 kmEg Rivertributary
- 536 kmOrkhon Rivertributary
- 619 kmDzhidatributary
- 639 kmTemniktributary
- 671 kmChikoytributary
- 712 kmKhilok Rivertributary
- 742 kmOrongoytributary
- 794 kmUlan-Ude360,278 people
- 799 kmUdatributary
- 799 kmZarechnyy9,806 people
- 834 kmItantsatributary
- 885 kmSelenginsk13,187 people
- 924 kmSelenga Delta
- 1,024 kmLake Baikalat 449 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Mongolia and Russia
At the mouth it carries 935 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.7 seconds. It drops from 1,177 m to 449 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 447,000 km², about the size of UZ. 2.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from July to September; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Ulan-UdeLargest city on its banks · 360,278 people
- Baikal International Airport (UUD)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 11 km from the city
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Selenga, month by month
Highest water: from July to September
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 210 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,800 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
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The basin
Selenga: the basin in numbers
443,470 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 6/km²people per km²
- 1,420maverage altitude of the basin
- 343mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -2.7°Caverage air temperature
- 13%protected areas
- 0.8%covered by lakes
- 28%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 36% Forest
- 4% Cropland
- 41% Pasture
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
Selenga: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 11Ferry piersFähre and 10 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
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.
Photos
Selenga in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (17)
Mongolia1,124 km120 m³/sjoins at km 519Eg RiverMongolia475 km100 m³/sjoins at km 277Ider RiverMongolia452 km57 m³/sjoins at km 5DelgermörönMongolia445 km35 m³/sjoins at km 5Also: Chikoy, Uda, Khilok River, Dzhida, Khanui River, Temnik, Itantsa, Orongoy, Kabanya River, Ivolga, Talovka, Pyanaya, Kuytunka
In the same basin
Russia3,487 km19,800 m³/sAngaraRussia1,779 km4,500 m³/sNizhnyaya TunguskaRussia2,989 km3,700 m³/sPodkamennaya TunguskaRussia1,865 km1,600 m³/sAbakanRussia514 km380 m³/sOkaRussia630 km270 m³/sUdaRussia1,203 km300 m³/sIrkutRussia488 km140 m³/sTuul RiverMongolia704 km37 m³/sBiryusaRussia830 km350 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q75745) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
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