Timok River

Infobox River | river_name = Timok (Тимок)


caption = Timok watershed
origin = Svrljig mountains, Serbia
mouth = Danube, northernmost point of the Bulgarian-Serbian border
basin_countries = Serbia, Bulgaria
length = 203 km
elevation = 1,078 m
discharge = 24 m³
watershed = 4,630 km²

The Timok (Serbian and Bulgarian Cyrillic: Тимок, Romanian: "Timoc") is a river in eastern Serbia and western Bulgaria. It derives the names in all these from the name it had in antiquity, Latin: "Timacus".

It is a very branchy system of many shorter rivers, a large number of them having the same name (Timok), only clarified with adjectives. From the farthest source in the system, that of the "Svrljiški Timok", until its confluence into the Danube (as "Veliki Timok"), the Timok is 203 km long. The river flows through Serbia and for the last 15 km forms the border between Serbia and Bulgaria.

Parts of the Timok

Svrljiški Timok

The Timok starts as the "Svrljiški Timok" (Cyrillic: Сврљишки Тимок) north of the Mountains of Svrljig near the village of Šesti Gabar, and flows to the west, curving around the northern slopes of the Mountains of Svrljig. It passes through many villages (Periš, Lozan, Okruglica, Crnoljevica, Beloinje), reaching the town of Svrljig, that gives its name to the river, which here gently turns to the north, and after passing through Niševac and Varoš makes a complete turn to the north-east. It runs through Palilula, Podvis and Rgošte, reaching Knjaževac, where it meets the Trgoviški Timok after a flow of 64 km and together they form the Beli Timok. It drains an area of 720 km².

Beli (Knjaževački) Timok

The "Beli Timok" (Cyrillic: Бели Тимок; "White Timok") continues to the north, almost in a straight (meridionaly stretched) line, parallel to the Serbian-Bulgarian border on the east, and the eastern slopes of the mountain Tupižnica, on the west. It is generally considered that from this point Timočka Krajina (Timok Valley) begins. The river passes through Donje Zuniče, Debelica, Drenovac, Borovac and Vratarnica, several small villages, before reaching the larger village of Grljan. In this area, the Beli Timok receives two left tributaries, the "Grliška reka" and the "Lubnička reka" (Cyrillic: Грлишка река and Лубничка река). A few kilometers after Grljan, the river reaches the largest city on its course, Zaječar. There, the Beli Timok meets the Crni Timok from the east and continues as the Veliki Timok. The length of the Beli Timok is 51 km (115 km with Svrljiški Timok) and it drains an area of 2,167 km². Earlier, it was also known as the "Knjaževački Timok" (Cyrillic: Књажевачки Тимок; Timok of Knjaževac).

Veliki Timok

In its final, 88 km-long section, the river is known as the "Veliki Timok" (Cyrillic: Велики Тимок; "Great Timok") or simply the Timok. It turns north-west after Zaječar, running next to the villages of Vražogrnac, Trnavac, Čokonjar, and Brusnik. Passing between the last two it leaves Timočka Krajina and enters Negotinska Krajina.

In the lower course the Timok has no major settlements on the Serbian side (though flowing only 7 km from Negotin). Some 15 km before it empties into the Danube as its right tributary, the Timok becomes a border river, passing next to the Bulgarian town of Bregovo and the Bulgarian village of Baley. The river's mouth represents the northwesternmost point of Bulgaria, and is only 28 m above sea level, which makes it the lowest point of Serbia. The average discharge is 24 m³/s, but it can grow to 40 m³/s, and the Timok is part of the Black Sea drainage basin. The main (right) tributaries in this section are "Crna reka", "Salaška reka", "Sikolska reka" and "Čubarska reka" (Cyrillic: Црна река, Салашка река, Сиколска река and Чубарска река).

Apart from Timočka Krajina, the Timok gave its name to a rebellion against Serbian king Milan Obrenović IV in 1883, Timočka buna ("rebellion of Timok").

Strma reka-Trgoviški Timok

The "Trgoviški Timok" (Cyrillic: Трговишки Тимок; "Timok of Trgovište") also known as "Korenatac" (Cyrillic: Коренатац) starts on the western slopes of the Stara Planina mountain, right under the highest peak of the mountain in Serbia, Midžor, less than a kilometer from the Bulgarian border, as the "Strma reka" (Cyrillic: Стрма река; "steep river"). The river runs to the east, receiving three smaller streams from the other peaks of Stara Planina peaks with colorful names ("Babin Zub" and "Tri Uši"; Cyrillic: Бабин Зуб and Три Уши; "Oldwife's Tooth" and "Three Ears"). The Strma reka passes through the villages of Balta-Berilovac and Inovo. At the village of Kalna, it receives a stream flowing from the south down the Jadovnik mountain, turns to the north and becomes known as the Trgoviški Timok.

Kalna itself is known for the only finding of uranium in Serbia. Preparations were made for the extraction of ore and the opening of a mine, but the project failed. Later, the village was subject of some controversy after allegations were made in the press in the early 1990s that the empty facilities of the doomed mine were used as a dumping place for radioactive waste from Western Europe. Despite months of high publicity in the press, these allegations were never proved to be true.

The Trgoviški Timok flows to the north-west, through Gornja Kamenica, Donja Kamenica, Štrbac, Žukovac and Trgovište, a suburb of Knjaževac and one of the rare settlements in eastern Serbia that experiences population growth. It also gave the name to the river. With the Strma reka, the Trgoviški Timok is 50 km long and receives two right tributaries, the "Žukovska reka" and the "Balinačka reka" (Cyrillic: Жуковска река and Балиначка река). Running on the left slopes of the Tresibaba mountain, the river reaches Knjaževac, where it is joined by the Svrljiški Timok from the south-west, forming together the Beli Timok. It drains an area of 520 km².

Crni (Krivovirski) Timok

The "Crni Timok" (Cyrillic: Црни Тимок; "Black Timok") originates from the northern side of the Veliki Maljenik mountain, in the Kučaj area of eastern Serbia. It flows near the village of Krivi Vir and continues generally to the north-east, flowing through the Crnorečka kotlina (Cyrillic: Црноречка котлина; "depression of Crna Reka"), populated with many smaller villages (Valakonje, Savinac, Selište, Zvezdan). In its valley is also the important archeological site from Roman times, Gamzigrad. After a flow of 84 km, the Crni Timok reaches Zaječar, where it flows into the Beli Timok, forming the Veliki Timok. Early in its course it receives from the right the "Radovanska reka" (Cyrillic: Радованска река), and later, also from the right the "Zlotska reka", the "Jasenova reka" and the "Banjska reka". Since all three tributaries come from the highly polluted area of the Bor copper mining basin, they pollute the Crni Timok, making it the major culprit of the Timok's overall pollution. The river is also known as the "Crna reka" (Cyrillic: Црна река; "black river") or the Krivovirski Timok (Cyrillic: "Кривовирски Тимок"; "Timok of Krivi Vir"). It drains an area of 1.003 km².

Economy and ecology

At Čokonjar, the "Sokolovica" power plant was constructed in 1947-1951. Opportunities for higher electricity production are not used.

The river has been greatly ecologically damaged in recent years by the mining and heavy metal industry in Bor and Krivelj and is consequently polluting the Danube with lead, copper and cadmium.

The river valley is a natural route for the road and railway Niš-Prahovo.

References

* "Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija", Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
* Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): "Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije"; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6