The Chuya is a right
tributary of the Lena, its 13th longest tributary. It has its sources in a small mountain lake of the
Synnyr Massif of the
North Baikal Highlands and flows in a roughly NNE direction across the highland area within the
North Baikal District of Buryatia. Its channel is very stony and often divides into branches, with
willows growing in the banks and in the islands. As it flows roughly northwards past the confluence of its Tukulakh tributary there is a long, tumultuous stretch with
rapids and cascades. Downstream from the
Gorno-Chuysky ghost town zone the river proceeds along a narrow valley with
riffles in the current. Further north there is another area of strong rapids. After it leaves the mountain area the Chuya river slows down, the river channel widens and it is joined by the Malaya Chuya on its left bank. In its last stretch the Chuya flows northwards across a
floodplain as the
Bolshaya Chuya. Finally the Chuya meets the right bank of the Lena by
Chuya village, at the border of the
Sakha Republic (Yakutia), from its mouth. The town of
Vitim lies just a few miles downstream from the confluence. The largest tributary of the Chuya is the long
Malaya Chuya (Small Chuya) that joins it from the left and has a
drainage basin area of . The river freezes between October and May.
Permafrost is distributed in the river basin in an uneven, discontinuous pattern. ==See also==