Zarafshon
Zarafshon is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 39.67°, 67.08°
About Zarafshon
The Zarafshon is a river in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its name 'spreader of gold' in Persian refers to the presence of gold-bearing sands in the upper reaches of the river. It was known as the Polytimetus by the ancient Greeks. The river is known in Russian as Zeravshan, and it was also formerly known as the Sughd River. The river is 877 kilometres (545 mi) long and has a basin area of 17,700 square kilometres (6,800 mi2). It is the site of the ancient Battle of the Polytimetus.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Zarafshon (river) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Zarafshon in Depth
Geography
It rises at the Zarafshan Glacier, close to where the Turkestan Range and the Zeravshan Range of the Pamir-Alay mountains meet, in Tajikistan. In its upper course, upstream from its confluence with the Fan Darya, it is also called Matcha. It flows due west for some 300 kilometres (190 mi), passing Panjakent before entering Uzbekistan at 39°32′N 67°27′E, where it turns west-to-north-west, flowing past the legendary city of Samarkand, where it feeds the Dargom Canal, which is entirely dependent on the oasis thus created, until it bends left again to the west north of Navoiy and further to the south-west, passing Bukhara before it is lost in the desert beyond the city of Qorakoʻl (Karakul), not quite reaching the Amu Darya, of which it was formerly a tributary.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Zarafshon (river) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Zarafshon: Key Facts
| Length | 877 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 162 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 41,860 km² |
| Mouth | Amu Darya |
| Tributaries | Fan Darya, Kshtut, Mogiyondarya, Siyob river, Akdar’ya |
Facts from Wikidata Q501027 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Zarafshon: Quick Answers
- Where is Zarafshon?
- Zarafshon is located in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, at 39.6736° N, 67.0835° E.
- Are there dams on the Zarafshon?
- No dam on the Zarafshon is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.