Hydrography
The basin of the Chusovaya River has an area of 23,000 km² and an average elevation of 356 m. The river is 592 km long (777 km according to other sources) and has an average height gradient of 0.4 m/km. It has two sources: Poludennaya Chusovaya and Western (Zapadanaya) Chusovaya. The former originates in a swampy area in the north of Chelyabinsk Oblast and flows to the north. After 45 km, it merges with the Western Chusovaya, which starts at the Ufaley ridge. Then the river flows for about 150 km on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains; here its width is 10–13 meters. In the upper stream Chusovaya takes many tributaries and shows on its shores outcrops of crystalline shale, which were formed through the interaction of magmatic and sedimentary rocks.
In the middle reaches, the river slopes have canyon-like character. Here the river cuts through several low mountain ranges, which tower above the riverbed as picturesque cliffs called boitsy. There are about 200 of them in the middle reaches and about 50 are protected by the state as natural monuments. Boitsy are of sedimentary origin and are made from limestone and rarely dolomite, anhydrite and shale; they rise 10–115 meters above the water and extend for 30–1500 meters. Limestone is prone to weathering which often creates peculiar shapes. Karst processes created numerous caves and grottoes in this area. The river here has a mountainous character with about 70 rapids, and its elevation here decreases by 120 meters over a length of 280 km. Large boulders sometimes protrude above the water surface. Here the river is 120–140 meters wide and is rather winding, skirting mountain ranges and making numerous loops. One loop near Utkinskoy settlement is 5 kilometers in diameter and is almost a closed loop.
In the lower reaches, after exiting from the Ural Mountains, the river has a plain character. Here it flows through meadows, marshes, deciduous and mixed forests; it slows down and widens in some places up to 300 meters, making occasional broad bends. The river discharges into the Chusovskoy Cove of Kama Reservoir, which is associated with the Kama hydroelectric power station located 693 km from the mouth of the Kama River. Construction of the dam resulted in flooding of the lower reaches of the Chusovaya up to 125 km from the mouth. The bottom of the river throughout its length is mainly covered in pebbles.
The water discharge varies between 8.4 and 4570 m³/s with the average of 222 m³/s. The flow is relatively strong – about 10 times that of such rivers as Volga and Kama; it is about 8 km/h on average and may rich 25 km/h in some places. Chusovaya usually freezes in late October-early December and thaws in April. Ice congestions are common for the lower reaches with the increase in the water level of up to 2.8 meters. The river is fed by snow (55%). precipitation (29%) and underground waters (18%). The floods typically occur between mid-April and mid-June. During the early summer, there are 6–7 rain floods with water levels rising up to 4–5 m. In July–August, the river shallows to 7–15 cm in some places.
Chusovaya takes more than 150 tributaries with the largest being the river Sylva). Other principal tributaries are Utka, Mezhevaya Utka, Serebryanka, Koyva, Usva, Revda and Lysva. The Kumysh tributary dives underground for about 6 km; the place where it disappears is called нырок in Russian ("dive" in English) by the local people, and the place where it resurfaces is named вынырок ("coming to the surface"). Such behavior is unusual but not unique to Kumysh and is observed for about 15 other rivers of the Urals.
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