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River

Bartang River

528 km from source to mouth · Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

TajikistanAfghanistanTajikistan and AfghanistanFlows into Panj River2nd longest in Tajikistan

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

528km

Average flow

130m³/s

Basin

24,700km²

Drop

2,647m

from 4,024 m to 1,377 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

528 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

4,024 m1,377 m
Sourceat 4,024 m0 km
Kōl-e Karasū0.4 km²37 km
Murghob10,815 people215 km
Shadau2.3 km²369 km
Sarez Lake84 km²371 km
Panj Riverat 1,377 m528 km
0200400528 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 4,024 m
  2. 3 kmChaqmaqtin Lake12 km²
  3. 9 kmKōl-e Bīshūtek2.1 km²
  4. 37 kmKōl-e Karasū0.4 km²
  5. 215 kmMurghob10,815 people
  6. 369 kmShadau2.3 km²
  7. 371 kmSarez Lake84 km²
  8. 388 kmMurghabtributary
  9. 512 kmRŭshon4,031 people
  10. 528 kmPanj Riverat 1,377 m

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

River

At the mouth it carries 128 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 20 seconds. It drops from 4,024 m to 1,377 m, 5.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 24,700 km², about the size of MK. 32,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: May; lowest: from January to March and September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • MurghobLargest city on its banks · 10,815 people
  • Tashikuergan Hongqilafu Airport (HQL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 129 km from the city
  • From July to AugustThe best months to visit

Bartang River, month by month

Highest water: May

Lowest water: from January to March and September. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.

18
-16°19 mmJan
18
-14°19 mmFeb
18
-7°29 mmMar
180
0°27 mmApr
510
5°30 mmMay
440
9°15 mmJun
280
13°11 mmJul
39
13°8 mmAug
31
8°6 mmSep
44
1°12 mmOct
37
-5°12 mmNov
31
-12°20 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 18 m³/s in the lowest month to 510 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 in TajikistanDiscover 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

Bartang River: the basin in numbers

27,801 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.
  • 32,000people live in the basin
  • 1/km²people per km²
  • 4,341maverage altitude of the basin
  • 295mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -4.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 37%protected areas
  • 0.4%covered by lakes
  • 2%glaciers
  • 56%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 7% Pasture
  • 2% Ice

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

Bartang River: what you find on the way

  • 1Weirs
  • 2WaterfallsWest Pshart Cascade

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Bartang 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.

  • 5lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (5)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Chaqmaqtin Lakekm 312km²
  2. Kōl-e Bīshūtekkm 92.1km²
  3. Kōl-e Karasūkm 360.4km²
  4. Shadaukm 3592.3km²
  5. Sarez Lakekm 360 · 202 m deep84km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Kŭhi Solsberi12 km away5,261m

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Bartang River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Bartang River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth23 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

Bartang River in pictures

River Bartang, Confluence Jezevdara
Kondephy · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bridge over Bartang near Jiseph (cropped)
Kondephy · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Panj RiverTajikistanTajikistan921 km1,000 m³/s

Tributaries (1)

Also: Murghab

In the same basin

Amu DaryaUzbekistanUzbekistan2,620 km1,400 m³/sVakhsh RiverTajikistanTajikistan524 km160 m³/sZeravshanUzbekistanUzbekistan877 km160 m³/sKokcha RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan360 km180 m³/sQashqadaryo RiverUzbekistanUzbekistan378 km25 m³/sSurxondaryoUzbekistanUzbekistan175 km66 m³/sKofarnihon RiverTajikistanTajikistan387 km160 m³/sGunt RiverTajikistanTajikistan296 km100 m³/sPamir RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan118 km13 m³/sKunduz RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan420 km160 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Gunt RiverTajikistanTajikistan296 km100 m³/s49 km awayPamir RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan118 km13 m³/s140 km awayWakhan RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan220 km16 m³/s140 km awayKokcha RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan360 km180 m³/s210 km awayVakhsh RiverTajikistanTajikistan524 km160 m³/s301 km awayNaryn RiverUzbekistanUzbekistan807 km430 m³/s330 km awayKara DaryaUzbekistanUzbekistan180 km140 m³/s330 km awayKunduz RiverAfghanistanAfghanistan420 km160 m³/s311 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q809231) · 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 atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — 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