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River

Atrek River

669 km from source to mouth · Iran and Turkmenistan.

IranTurkmenistanIran and TurkmenistanFlows into Caspian Sea5th longest in Iran

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

669km

Average flow

9.2m³/s

Basin

27,300km²

Drop

1,286m

from 1,568 m to 282 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

669 km of river and 6 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,568 m282 m
Sourceat 1,568 m0 km
Quchan101,604 people43 km
Shīrvān82,790 people111 km
Qolchoq Rivertributary117 km
Caspian Seaat 282 m320 km
0100200320 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,568 m
  2. 43 kmQuchan101,604 people
  3. 43 kmQūchān111,752 people
  4. 55 kmShahr-e Kohneh3,683 people
  5. 76 kmFārūj12,061 people
  6. 111 kmShīrvān82,790 people
  7. 117 kmQolchoq Rivertributary
  8. 320 kmCaspian Seaat 282 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Iran and Turkmenistan

At the mouth it carries 9.2 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 272 seconds. It drops from 1,568 m to 282 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 27,300 km², about the size of HT. 616,000 people live in it. Highest water: from March to April; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • QūchānLargest city on its banks · 111,752 people
  • Ashgabat International Airport (ASB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 99 km from the city
  • Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to June and from September to OctoberThe best months to visit

Atrek River, month by month

Highest water: from March to April

Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from April to June and from September to October.

190
0°29 mmJan
240
3°30 mmFeb
300
7°45 mmMar
320
14°48 mmApr
260
19°34 mmMay
140
24°8 mmJun
45
27°4 mmJul
8.8
26°3 mmAug
8.0
21°4 mmSep
23
14°14 mmOct
60
8°18 mmNov
120
2°24 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 8.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 320 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Atrek River: the basin in numbers

16,570 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 616,000people live in the basin
  • 37/km²people per km²
  • 1,314maverage altitude of the basin
  • 270mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 11.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas

What covers the basin

  • 11% Cropland
  • 74% Pasture
  • 1% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Atrek River: what you find on the way

  • 1DamsTabarak dam
  • 2Weirs
  • 1Rapids

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Atrek River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 6mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (6)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Kūh-e Tarkānlū12 km away
  2. Kūh-e Kākh11 km away
  3. Kūhhā-ye Delāghūrt12 km away
  4. Kūh-e Kūshkak15 km away
  5. Gondeh Kūh6.1 km away
  6. Kūh-e Qeshlāq-e Nāderī15 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Atrek River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Atrek River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth18 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Atrek River in pictures

رودخانه اترک و روستای عشق آباد
Afshin230 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Atrak Headstream
Ali.N.Sani · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (3)

Also: Sumbar River, Qolchoq River, Laq River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q283622) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesPeakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit