The Bolshoy Irgiz or Irgiz is a river in Samara

Samara Oblast

Samara Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Samara. Population: In 1936–1990, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast , after the Soviet name of Samara .-Demographics:Population:...

 and Saratov Oblast

Saratov Oblast

Saratov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Saratov. Population: -Demographics:Population:...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, the left tributary of the Volga River

Volga River

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...

, south of the Samara River

Samara River

The Samara is a river in Russia, left tributary of Volga. The city of Samara is located at the confluence of Volga and Samara. It rises southwest of the southern end of the Ural Mountains close to the middle Ural River near the town of Orenburg. It then flows west or west northwest to meet the...

. It is 675 km long and the area of its drainage basin is 24,000 km². It headwaters are at the Obshchy Syrt

Obshchy Syrt

Obshchy Syrt is a highland ridge, or plateau , in the european part of Russia. It starts north of Orenburg as a branch of the Ural Mountains and runs in a southwesterly direction to the east bank of the Volga River....

 adjoining the Ural River

Ural River

The Ural or Jayıq/Zhayyq , known as Yaik before 1775, is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,511 mi making it the third longest river in Europe after the Volga and the Danube...

 basin. It flows west and joins the Volga south of Samara. Irgiz's meandering riverbed passes the steppe

Steppe

In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...

s. The river has snow feeding. The town of Pugachyov

Pugachyov

Pugachyov is a town in Saratov Oblast, Russia, located on the Bolshoy Irgiz River , northeast of Saratov. Population: It was founded as the sloboda of Mechetnaya in 1764 by Old Believers who returned from Poland. In 1835, it was granted town status and renamed Nikolayevsk , after the ruling Tsar...

 is located along the Irgiz. The river flows to the Volgograd Reservoir

Volgograd Reservoir

The Volgograd Reservoir is a reservoir in Russia formed at the Volga River by the dam of the Volga Hydroelectric Station. It lies within the Volgograd Oblast and Saratov Oblast and named after the city of Volgograd. It was constructed during 1958-1961....

 of the Volga downstream Balakovo

Balakovo

-Twin towns/sister cities:Balakovo is twinned with: Pabianice, Poland Trnava, Slovakia Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States Baku, Azerbaijan-References:...

, near Volsk

Volsk

Volsk is a town in Saratov Oblast, Russia, located to the northeast from Saratov, on the right bank of the Volga River, opposite the mouth of the Bolshoy Irgiz, the Volga tributary. Population:...

.