Zeia

a city, the administrative center of Zeia Raion, Amur Oblast, RSFSR. A landing on the Zeia River, a tributary of the Amur. It is situated on a highway, 120 km northeast of the Tygda railroad station. Population, 17,000 (1970). A lumber industry is located in Zeia; a medical school and a museum of local lore are also there. The Zeia Hydroelectric Power Plant is being built (1972) on the Zeia River 2 km north of the city. Zeia came into being in the 1870’s with the opening of a gold deposit in the Zeia basin; it became a city in 1906.

a river in Amur Oblast, RSFSR; a left tributary of the Amur River. Length, 1,242 km; basin area, 233,000 sq km.

The Zeia rises in the Tokinskii Stanovik Range (Stanovoi range system). From its source to the mouth of the Kupuri River, the Zeia is a mountain river flowing in a narrow, deep ravine; below, for a distance of 300 km, it flows through the Verkhnezeia Plain in a broad valley. Cutting through the Tukuringra and Soktakhan ranges, the Zeia forms a rocky ravine, the Zeia Gates. The valley in places widens to 10–20 km on the Amur-Zeia Plateau. Below the mouth of the Selemdzha River, the Zeia flows across the Zeia-Bureia Low-land in a wide valley with well-cut terraces and a swamped floodplain. Permafrost mineral deposits are widely distributed in the Zeia basin. The main tributaries of the Zeia are the Tok, Mul’muga, Brianta, Giliui, and Urkan on the right and the Kupuri, Argi, Dep, Selemdzha, and Tom’ on the left. The river is fed primarily by rain (69 percent). Meltwater accounts for about 26 percent and groundwater for 5 percent of the river’s water. The average annual flow at the mouth is 1,910 cu m per sec. The summer flow is considerably greater than the spring flow, and rains cause stormy high waters leading to frequent flooding. The Zeia freezes over during the first third of November and thaws during the first third of May.

A group of reservoirs to control high waters is being planned. The Zeia Hydroelectric Power Plant was under construction in 1972 at the Zeia Gates; the reservoir will ensure improved conditions for navigation and will make about 280,000 hectares of land suitable for farming. The Zeia is navigable to the city of Zeia; during high waters, it is navigable to the Bommak landing. The cities of Zeia, Svobodnyi, and Blagoveshchensk (at the Zeia’s influx into the Amur) are located on the river.