Kobuk River

Kobuk
Kooak, Kowak, Kubuk, Kuwuk, Kuvuk, Putnam
Sunset over the Kobuk River
Kobuk River is located in Alaska
Kobuk River
Location of the mouth of the Kobuk River in Alaska
Native nameKuuvak (Inupiaq)
Location
CountryUnited States
StateAlaska
Physical characteristics
SourceWalker Lake
MouthKobuk Delta
Length280 mi (451 km)
Basin size12,310 sq mi (31,880 km2)
Discharge 
 • locationBering Strait
 • average10,000 cu ft/s (283 m3/s)
 • minimum1,400 cu ft/s (40 m3/s)
 • maximum110,000 cu ft/s (3,000 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftSquirrel River, Tutsuksuk River
 • rightSalmon River, Adillik River
TypeWild 110.0 miles (177.0 km)
DesignatedDecember 2, 1980[1]

The Kobuk River (Iñupiaq: Kuuvak; Koyukon: Hʉlghaatno), also known by the names Kooak, Kowak, Kubuk, Kuvuk, and Putnam,[2] is a river located in the Arctic region of northwestern Alaska in the United States. It is approximately 280 miles (451 km) long.[2] Draining a basin with an area of 12,300 square miles (32,000 km2),[3] the Kobuk River is among the largest rivers in northwest Alaska, with widths of up to 1,500 feet (460 m) and flows reaching speeds of 3–5 miles per hour (5–8 km per hour) in its lower and middle reaches.[4] The average elevation for the Kobuk River Basin is 1,300 feet (400 m) above sea level, ranging from sea level at its mouth on the Bering Sea to 11,400 feet (3,475 m) near its headwaters in the Brooks Range.

Topography along the river includes low, rolling mountains, plains and lowlands, moderately high rugged mountainous land, and some gently sloped plateaus and highlands. The river contains an exceptional population of sheefish (Stenodus leucicthys), a large predatory whitefish within the salmon family, which spawns in the river's upper reaches during the autumn.[5] A portion of the vast Western Arctic caribou herd utilize the Kobuk River valley as winter range.[6]

  1. ^ "National Wild and Scenic Rivers System" (PDF). rivers.gov. National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  2. ^ a b "USGS Geographic Names Information System. GNIS Detail: Kobuk River".
  3. ^ Brabets, T.P., Hydrologic Data and a Proposed Water-Quality Monitoring Network for the Kobuk River Basin, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Investigations Report 01-4141, 2001
  4. ^ Kobuk Valley National Park Final Environmental Impact Statement, National Park Service
  5. ^ [1], FishBase (April 2007)
  6. ^ [2], Alaska Department of Fish and Game (December 2003)

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