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Stream

Balikh River

100 km from source to mouth · Syria.

SyriaSyriaFlows into Euphrates2nd longest in Syria

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

100km

Average flow

15m³/s

Basin

14,157km²

Drop

96m

from 335 m to 239 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

100 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

335 m239 m
Ain al-Arousat 335 m0 km
Euphratesat 239 m100 km
020406080100 km
  1. 0 kmAin al-Arousat 335 m
  2. 100 kmEuphratesat 239 m

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

River in Syria

At the mouth it carries 15 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 163 seconds. It drops from 335 m to 239 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 14,157 km², about the size of ME. 1.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to March; 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

Balikh River, month by month

Highest water: from January to March

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

38
6°48 mmJan
40
8°32 mmFeb
35
12°36 mmMar
23
17°27 mmApr
15
22°16 mmMay
7.1
27°2 mmJun
3.5
30°0 mmJul
2.6
30°0 mmAug
2.6
25°1 mmSep
3.5
20°11 mmOct
9.0
13°24 mmNov
22
8°38 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 2.6 m³/s in the lowest month to 40 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

Car hire at GZT airport (Gaziantep)Discover CarsSee 

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

Balikh River: the basin in numbers

14,157 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.
  • 1.4millionpeople live in the basin
  • 96/km²people per km²
  • 469maverage altitude of the basin
  • 369mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 17.7°Caverage air temperature

What covers the basin

  • 25% Cropland
  • 31% Pasture
  • 3% 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.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Balikh 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.

  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Tall Akjil1.3 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Balikh River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Balikh River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth16 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.

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

EuphratesIraqIraq2,800 km820 m³/s

In the same basin

TigrisIraqIraq1,850 km1,000 m³/sShatt al-ArabIraqIraq200 km1,500 m³/sKarun RiverIranIran950 km580 m³/sKhabur RiverSyriaSyria486 km70 m³/sGreat ZabIraqIraq473 km810 m³/sLittle ZabIraqIraq456 km220 m³/sKarkheh RiverIranIran870 km220 m³/sDiyala RiverIraqIraq231 km130 m³/sMurat RiverTurkeyTurkey722 km400 m³/sKhaburTurkeyTurkey194 km150 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Khabur RiverSyriaSyria486 km70 m³/s150 km awayOrontes RiverTurkeyTurkey571 km30 m³/s281 km awayAfrin RiverTurkeyTurkey131 km61 m³/s259 km awayCeyhan RiverTurkeyTurkey474 km230 m³/s324 km awayMurat RiverTurkeyTurkey722 km400 m³/s328 km awayKhaburTurkeyTurkey194 km150 m³/s321 km awayGreat ZabIraqIraq473 km810 m³/s384 km awayBaradaSyriaSyria71 km7.3 m³/s356 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q815591) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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