Merkys River

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Merkys
Confluence of Merkys and Neman in Merkinė
Origin	18 km southwest from Ašmiany, Belarus
Mouth	Neman River
Basin countries	Lithuania (3781 km²), Belarus (635 km²)
Length	203 km
Source elevation	136 m
Avg. discharge	21 m³/s (near Varėna)
Basin area	4416 km²

Merkys is a river in southern Lithuania and northern Belarus. Merkys flows 13 km through Belarus, 5 km along the Belarus-Lithuanian border, and the remaining 185 km through Lithuania before joining the Neman River near Merkinė. The river is mostly fed by underground streams and therefore it is cool during summers and fluctuations of its water levels are smaller than of other rivers of Lithuania. Near Žagarinė (128 km before mouth) Merkys is connected with Lake Papys by a canal. Vokė River originates from the lake and consumes most of Merkys water. Before the canal average discharge of Merkys is 3 m³/s and below only 0.7 m³/s.

At the end of the 19th century the watershed area of Merkys grew by some 410 km² as its tributary Ūla River overtook some of Kotra River watershed area. Merkys is a popular destination among water tourism enthusiasts as part of it belongs to the Dzūkija National Park and it flows into the Neman near a historical site of Merkinė. Archeological findings tell that people inhabited the area as early as Mesolithic period. Merkys is known for its fauna diversity. In 1974 it was declared a reservoir for trout.

[edit] Name

Rivers' name Merkys originate from Lithuanian language appellative word merkti, which means to soak.^[1]

[edit] References

• (Lithuanian) "Merkys". Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija III. (1987). Ed. Jonas Zinkus, et. al. Vilnius, Lithuania: Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija. 54-55.