Gauja
General data
- Water type: River
- Progression: Gulf of Riga -> Baltic sea -> Atlantic Ocean -> Planet Earth
- Climates: Temperate, Continental
- Continents: Europe
- Countries: Latvia
Description
The Gauja River is a river in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It is the only large river of Latvia that begins and ends its flow in Latvia. Its length is 460 km, of which 93.5 km (approximately one-fifth) are in the Gauja National Park. In this part, the Gauja River flows through the Gauja valley, which is 1 to 2.5 km wide, and the maximum depth near Sigulda is 85 m. Thus, Gauja is the longest river of Latvia when we count only the parts of the river in the countrys territory. Daugava has only 367 km in Latvia, while the whole river is over 1000 km. The sandstone rocks on the banks of the Gauja and its adjoining rivers started forming 370 to 300 million years ago during the Devonian period.