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River

Kashgar River

765 km from source to mouth · China and Kyrgyzstan.

ChinaKyrgyzstanChina and KyrgyzstanFlows into Yarkand River

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

765km

Average flow

72m³/s

Basin

90,800km²

Drop

2,115m

from 3,262 m to 1,147 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

765 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

3,262 m1,147 m
Pamir Mountainsat 3,262 m0 km
Markan Sutributary115 km
Kashgar506,640 people255 km
Tuman Rivertributary259 km
Yarkand Riverat 1,147 m451 km
0100200300400451 km
  1. 0 kmPamir Mountainsat 3,262 m
  2. 115 kmMarkan Sutributary
  3. 255 kmKashgar506,640 people
  4. 259 kmTuman Rivertributary
  5. 451 kmYarkand Riverat 1,147 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 72 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 34 seconds. It drops from 3,262 m to 1,147 m, 2.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 90,800 km², about the size of JO. 1.2 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to May; lowest: from November to February. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • KashgarLargest city on its banks · 506,640 people
  • Kashgar Laining International Airport (KHG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 9 km from the city
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Kashgar River, month by month

Highest water: from April to May

Lowest water: from November to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from May to September.

8.2
-9°5 mmJan
1.0
-5°6 mmFeb
160
4°11 mmMar
160
11°12 mmApr
180
16°20 mmMay
88
20°16 mmJun
79
22°15 mmJul
62
21°16 mmAug
52
17°10 mmSep
42
10°7 mmOct
31
2°5 mmNov
17
-6°4 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 1.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 180 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

Kashgar River: the basin in numbers

24,649 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.
  • 1.2millionpeople live in the basin
  • 48/km²people per km²
  • 3,078maverage altitude of the basin
  • 227mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 1.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 27%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 1% Forest
  • 5% Cropland
  • 21% Pasture
  • 2% Towns and cities
  • 1% 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

Kashgar River: what you find on the way

  • 3Dams
  • 3Weirs

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Kashgar 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.

  • 4mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (4)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Gora Kurumdy12 km away · prominence 2,334 m6,614m
  2. Sarya Vostoka Peak8.3 km away6,349m
  3. Euler Peak10 km away6,022m
  4. Pik Tjornyj6.7 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Kashgar River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Kashgar River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth21 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

Kashgar River in pictures

喀什老城 - Kashgar Old Town - 2015.04 - panoramio
rheins · CC BY 3.0
2015-09-10-135433 - Kashgar, Id Kah Moschee
Zossolino · CC BY-SA 4.0
2015-09-10-135359 - Kashgar, Id Kah Moschee
Zossolino · CC BY-SA 4.0
喀什老城 - Kashgar Old Town - 2015.04 - panoramio (1)
rheins · CC BY 3.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1511750) · 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