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River

Sefid Rud

670 km from source to mouth · Iran.

IranIranFlows into Caspian Sea4th 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

670km

Average flow

310m³/s

Basin

13,450km²

Drop

1,761m

from 1,733 m to -28 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

670 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,733 m-28 m
Zagros Mountainsat 1,733 m0 km
Qezel Uzantributary533 km
Daryācheh-ye Sadd-e Sefīd Rūd23 km²541 km
Āstāneh-ye Ashrafīyeh44,941 people625 km
Caspian Seaat -28 m670 km
0200400600670 km
  1. 0 kmZagros Mountainsat 1,733 m
  2. 533 kmQezel Uzantributary
  3. 539 kmShahrud Rivertributary
  4. 541 kmManjil15,630 people
  5. 541 kmManjīl15,630 people
  6. 541 kmDaryācheh-ye Sadd-e Sefīd Rūd23 km²
  7. 541 kmSefid-Rud Dam
  8. 541 kmPādegān-e Manjīl17,396 people
  9. 548 kmKhalīlābād10,504 people
  10. 562 kmRostamābād13,746 people
  11. 623 kmNiyaku Adobe Bridge
  12. 624 kmNiyaku Small Adobe Bridge
  13. 625 kmĀstāneh-ye Ashrafīyeh44,941 people
  14. 648 kmKīāshahr14,022 people
  15. 670 kmCaspian Seaat -28 m

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

River in Iran

At the mouth it carries 314 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.0 seconds. It drops from 1,733 m to -28 m, 2.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 13,450 km², about the size of BS. 2.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to February; lowest: from June to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (18% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Āstāneh-ye AshrafīyehLargest city on its banks · 44,941 people
  • Sardar-e-Jangal Airport (RAS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 30 km from the city
  • On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Sefid Rud, month by month

Highest water: from December to February

Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.

1,300
2°68 mmJan
1,300
3°57 mmFeb
1,200
6°63 mmMar
1,000
11°60 mmApr
750
16°42 mmMay
400
21°13 mmJun
160
24°12 mmJul
75
24°17 mmAug
180
20°39 mmSep
500
15°63 mmOct
820
10°63 mmNov
1,200
4°74 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 75 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,300 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

Sefid Rud: the basin in numbers

58,651 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 18% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 2.5millionpeople live in the basin
  • 43/km²people per km²
  • 1,769maverage altitude of the basin
  • 402mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 10.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas
  • 1.8km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 1% Forest
  • 14% Cropland
  • 61% 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

Sefid Rud: what you find on the way

  • 8DamsTalvar Dam, Shahriar Dam, Sefidrud Dam and 5 more
  • 10Weirs
  • 2Locks
  • 1Waterfalls
  • 1Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Sefid Rud 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.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Daryācheh-ye Sadd-e Sefīd Rūdkm 56123km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Kūh-e Sheydā8.4 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Sefid Rud: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Sefid Rud: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth33 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

Sefid Rud in pictures

Sefidrood2
Sajbadina · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sefidrood
Sajbadina · CC BY-SA 4.0
Manjil & Sefidrud lake - panoramio - Alireza Javaheri (1)
Alireza Javaheri · CC BY 3.0
Manjil & Sefidrud lake - panoramio - Alireza Javaheri (2)
Alireza Javaheri · CC BY 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (3)

Also: Qezel Uzan, Shahrud River, Manjil River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1430986) · 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 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