Uzen, Bolshoi and Malyi

two rivers in Saratov Oblast, RSFSR, and in Ural’sk Oblast, Kazakh SSR. The Bol’shoi Uzen’ is 650 km long and drains an area of 15,600 sq km, and the Malyi Uzen’ is 638 km long and drains an area of 18,250 sq km. The rivers empty into the Kamysh-Samara Lakes, which have no outlets. They are fed mainly by snow. In the spring, during high water, they overflow their banks, and in the summer, individual river sections dry up. The mean flow rate of the Bol’shoi Uzen’ at the city of Novouzensk is 7.3 cu m per sec (maximum flow rate, 393 cu m per sec), while that of the Malyi Uzen’ at the village of Malyi Uzen’ is 3.4 cu m per sec (maximum flow rate, 782 cu m per sec). The rivers freeze in late November and open up in April. They are used for irrigation.