Plura | |
Pushpin Map: | Nordland#Norway |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of the river |
Subdivision Type1: | Country |
Subdivision Name1: | Norway |
Subdivision Type2: | County |
Subdivision Name2: | Nordland |
Subdivision Type3: | Municipalities |
Subdivision Name3: | Rana Municipality |
Length: | 27km (17miles) |
Source1: | Kallvatnet |
Source1 Location: | Rana, Norway |
Source1 Coordinates: | 66.2396°N 14.7728°W |
Mouth: | Ranelva |
Mouth Location: | Rana, Norway |
Mouth Coordinates: | 66.3388°N 14.3239°W |
River System: | Ranelva |
Basin Size: | 437km2 |
Plura is a river in the municipality of Rana in Nordland county, Norway. The river begins at the lake Kallvatnet, flows through the Plurdalen valley, and ends up as a tributary to the river Ranelva, about north of the town of Mo i Rana. The river is rich with salmon, trout, and Arctic char. The name comes from the Norwegian verb "prula" which means "boiling" or "seething".[1]
The Plura river flows both over and beneath the ground, and it has the longest subterranean flow in Norway at . Until 1964, Plura was a large river, washing limestone out of the mountain, creating several caves/tunnels down through the Plurdalen valley. Through the Pluragrotta cave, about of water passed each minute. The Kallvatnet dam made the river Plura almost dry, and the water in Pluragrotta cave became standing still like in a water seal.