Description |
The Kuma (Russian: ?????) is an 802 km (498 mile) long river in southern Russia. Its drainage basin is 33 500 square km. Its source is in the Greater Caucasus, in the republic Karachay-Cherkessia, west of Kislovodsk. It flows in northeastern direction, through Stavropol Krai (towns Mineralnye Vody, Zelenokumsk, Budyonnovsk, Neftekumsk) and further east through the Caspian Depression as the natural border between Kalmykia and Dagestan. That part of the Kuma's valley forms the eastern part of the Kuma-Manych Depression, separating the East European Plain from the Caucasus region. The Kuma flows into the Kizlyar Gulf of the Caspian Sea near the border between Dagestan and Kalmykia. |