Akatovskoye (Svaditskoye) Lake (Smolensk Oblast)

Akatovskoye Lake

In the Demidovsky district of Smolenskaya oblast, 20 kilometers away from the district center, there lies the AkatovskoyeLake. On pre-revolutionary geographical maps the lake was marked as the SvaditskoyeLake, according to the SvaditsaRiver that flows from the lake and empties into it. The lake is a natural reserve of regional significance and the largest lake in the Smolensk region. The lake is 5.6 kilometers long and 1.7 kilometers wide at its widest. The general area of the water face is 650 hectares. The maximum depth of the lake is 10 meters.

The AkatovskoyeLake was formed by glaciers, it is a rill lake, and it is situated in the borderline area of Valday glaciation. But the hollow, within which the lake was formed, existed even before the glacier melted. The glacier’s melting waters had a great impact on the morphology of the pre-glacier’s hollow. The coastline of the lake is slightly dissected. The Akatovskoye lake is elliptical in shape, it stretches from the north-east to the south-west. The banks are 20-25 meters high here, the angle of their slopes is 30-35°. In the south-west direction the height of the banks gradually decreases to 15-10 meters and less. In certain areas the banks are swampy (between the villages of Schetkino and Holm; Akatovo and Orlovo). The banks of the lake are dissected insignificantly.

Lake Karets

The bottom of the water reserve is relatively even; it sinks gradually from the banks to the center. In certain places, especially in the south and north-western sections, sandbanks were formed with beaches on the shore that can be up to twenty five meters wide and wider.

The SvaditsaRiver and the DivitsaRiver empty into the lake with a few minor springs, and the Svaditsa river flows out of it – a tributary of the KaspliRiver. Via the SvaditsaRiver, the lake is connected to the water basin of the Kaspli. Through a little channel, the lake is connected to the lake that bears the name Divo.

Growths of Fireweed on Akatovskoye Lake

In the south-east section of the lake, sixty meters away from it, north of the Akatovo village, there is a little lake Karetz (6.5 hectares; its depth is 3.5 meters) – obviously, a former armlet of the Akatovskoye Lake.

Of all the water plants, the rush and the reed are predominant here. In the northern part of the lake, the width of the growths of these plants may reach sixty meters. Along the south banks, longroot smartweed grows. Also you can see cow lilies, duckweed, pondweed, parrot’s feather, and hornworts.

Many kinds of fish inhabit the lake. Breams, pike-perches, perches, ruffs, tenches, bleaks, common rudds, roaches, pikes, silver breams, ides, burbots, and other fish live here.