The Chona (Russian: Чона; Yakut: Чуона, Çuona) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. It is a right hand tributary of the Vilyuy, and is 802 kilometres (498 mi) long, with a drainage basin of 40,600 square kilometres (15,700 sq mi).[1]
The river begins in the Lena Plateau, part of the Central Siberian Plateau, at an elevation of 317 metres (1,040 ft). It flows roughly northeastwards forming rapids which make the river not navigable. The lowest 170 km (110 mi) of its course were flooded by the Vilyuy Reservoir after the Vilyuy Dam was built in 1967. The river freezes between October and late May.[3]
The main tributaries of the Chona are the 362 kilometres (225 mi) long Vakunayka and the 105 kilometres (65 mi) long Ichoda on the right, and the 158 kilometres (98 mi) long Dekinde, the 122 kilometres (76 mi) long Delinde and the 109 kilometres (68 mi) long Markhaya on the left. There are no permanent settlements by the Chona.[4]
The T-shaped Chona-Vilyuy River system with the Chona in the lower left.
