Mountain rivers

Mountain river in the Carpathians.

Mountain river in the Caucasus.

Mountain rivers - rivers flowing in the mountains , in a narrow, deep valley with steep banks and a stony bed cluttered with rock fragments .

Mountain rivers are characterized by large slopes and flow rates, shallow depths, frequent rapids and waterfalls , eroded processes predominate. The slope of the mountain rivers is 60–80 m / km in the upper reaches and 5–10 m / km in the lower ones. The flow rate is from 1 to 4.5 m / s or more.

On the territory of Ukraine there are more than 28,000 mountain rivers, of which 28,000 are in the Ukrainian Carpathians , the total length of which is 55,000 km. In the Crimean mountains - more than 1600 rivers, with a total length of about 6000 km.

Mountain rivers have great hydropower potential; in arid conditions they are often used for irrigation .