Tanama (river)

The Tanama (Танама) is a river in northern Siberia, Russia. It is one of the main tributaries of the Yenisey.

The Tanama is 521 km long, and the area of its basin is 23100 km2. The river has the highest water level in July and the lowest during the winter. It flows through desolate, uninhabited areas and there are no permanent settlements along its course.

Course
The Tanama has its source in the Gyda Peninsula, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast. It flows first roughly northwestwards and northwards, forming a wide arch across the tundra above the Arctic Circle. In its upper and middle course the river forms the border of the Tyumen Oblast for about 430 km. The Tanama changes direction in its lower course and meanders roughly eastwards, flowing across the swampy lowlands of the northeastern part of the West Siberian Plain. About 40 km before the mouth the river splits into many branches and finally joins the western (left) bank of the left channel of the Yenisey (Deryabinsky Yenisey) near Polikarpovsk village, not far from the Yenisey Gulf and about 200 km northwest of Dudinka. The river freezes in mid-September and stays frozen until late May or early June.

The Tanama has 30 tributaries that are over 15 km long. The main tributaries are six of these that are over 100 km in length: the Ngarka-Lybonkatyakha, Yartoyakha, Nenereyakha, Payotayakha on the left and the Big Pyakoyakha and Yara on the right.