| Sunzha River | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Caucasus Major, North Ossetia, Tebulosmta |
| Mouth | Terek |
| Basin countries | North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia |
| Length | 278 km |
| Basin area | 12,200 km² |
The Sunzha (Russian: Су́нжа, Ossetic: Сунжæ, Sunžæ, Chechen: Соьлжа, Sölƶa[1]) is a river in North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia, a right tributary of Terek River. It is 278 km long. The Sunzha rises on the Northern slope of the Caucasus Major. Its major tributaries are the Assa River and Argun River. With a turbidity of 3,800 g/m³, it carries 12,2 million tons of alluvium per year. It is used for irrigation. Cities which lie on the Sunzha include Nazran, Karabulak, Grozny (the capital of Chechnya), and Gudermes. During the First and Second Chechen Wars, the destruction of petroleum reservoirs caused the Sunzha to become polluted with petroleum.[2]
The origin of the name of the river has some versions. The most probable of versions name Sunzha has come from Mongol-Turkic languages in the deformed type. It is known, that Mongols called it Suinchie, Russian Sevenz and in the Chechen language it is names has got in corrective type Solchzha.
There is also other version that the river Sunzha Chechens called before Okhi «Oh'-hi, Оhhи » that means in translation with Chechen – «downwards the river».