Aldan (river)
The Aldan is the second-longest, right tributary of the Lena in the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia. The river is long, of which around is navigable. It has a drainage basin of. It was part of the River Route to Okhotsk. In 1639 Ivan Moskvitin ascended the rivers Aldan and Maya and crossed to the Ulya to reach the Sea of Okhotsk.
Course
It rises in the Stanovoy Mountains southwest of Neryungri, then flows northeast across the Aldan Highlands past Aldan and through Tommot, Ust-Maya, Eldikan and Khandyga before turning northwest and joining the Lena near Batamay.
The river's main tributaries are the Timpton, Uchur, Maya and Allakh-Yun from the right and the Amga from the left. Its basin is known for gold and for Cambrian fossils.
