Danube Delta - Hydrographic Network

The Danube Delta lies at the crossing of the parallel 45° northern latitude with the meridian 29° eastern longitude. Area: 4.152 sq.Km, including 3.446 sq.km Romanian territory. The zone is relatively flat, with an inclination of 0,0060/00, permanently or temporarily covered by water (70-80%). It looks like an equilateral triangle with some 80 km long side. With a descharge of 5.000-9.000 cu.m/sec., it carries annually 50 de millioans tons of alluvia on the average (about 8 times more than the Tiber, 20 times more than the Rhine). The water temperature (13:00 hours): June 20° July, August 22°, September 18°.

The main water courses are the four arms through which the Danube flows into the sea.

CHILIA - the northernmost and most active arm, with two groups of branches and a micro-delta of its own. Length: 105 km up to Periprava; maximum width: 1.000 m; maximum depth: 39 m. It carries around 60% of all river water; sinuousness coefficient: 1,56. Local shipping.

TULCEA - an arm running between the streches of the land Chilia and Sf. Gheorghe (on the left bank, Tulcea town). Length: 19 km; maximum width: 300 m; maximum depth: 34 m. It carries about 40% of the river water; sinuousness coefficient: 1,40. Man shipping way.

SULINA - the shortest, straightest and most developed arm. Length: 64 km; maximum width: 250 m; maximum depth: 18 m. It carries about 22% of the river water; sinuousness coefficient: 1,03. River-maritime traffic channel (7.000 ton ships may sail where the arm is at least 7.32 m deep).

SFANTU GHEORGHE - the oldest arm through which the Danube flows into the sea. Length: 64 km; maximum width: 550 m; maximum depth: 26 m. It carries about 22% of the river water; sinuousness coefficient: 1,60. Local shipping.

The secondary hydrographic network of the Danube Delta generally has four components: creeks (former arms of the Danube, which are getting clogged), backwaters (smaller creeks), channels (rectified and dredged), periboinas (litoral loopholes where water is exchanged). Besides, there are also simple formations of a depression-lacustrine nature: marshes (0.50-3 m deep), estuaries (by the mouth of rivulets), lagoons (old marine gulfs), swamps (low water that may vanish), japsas (pools left by high waters), as well as complex ones: depression lakes (Padina, Sontea, Furtuna, Dranov, Matita, Obretin etc.). The Delta hydrographic basin also comprises the corresponding litoral line, the maritime zone along the coast, 10-15 km wide, less than 25 m deep, influenced by the flow of the sweet water.

Last update: 1999, September 15
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