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River

Xiliao River

829 km from source to mouth · China.

ChinaChinaFlows into Liao River

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

829km

Average flow

100m³/s

Basin

147,000km²

Drop

1,231m

from 1,318 m to 87 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

829 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,318 m87 m
Sourceat 1,318 m0 km
Chifeng346,654 people149 km
Hongshan Shuiku (reservoar i Kina, Inre Mongoliet)59 km²269 km
Xar Moron Rivertributary424 km
Tongliao261,110 people564 km
Shuangliao93,666 people706 km
Liao Riverat 87 m829 km
0200400600829 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,318 m
  2. 149 kmChifeng346,654 people
  3. 269 kmHongshan Shuiku (reservoar i Kina, Inre Mongoliet)59 km²
  4. 424 kmXar Moron Rivertributary
  5. 564 kmTongliao261,110 people
  6. 706 kmShuangliao93,666 people
  7. 829 kmLiao Riverat 87 m

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

River in the People's Republic of China

At the mouth it carries 103 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 24 seconds. It drops from 1,318 m to 87 m, 1.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 147,000 km², about the size of BD. 7.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to April. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 93% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • ChifengLargest city on its banks · 346,654 people
  • Chifeng Yulong Airport (CIF)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 16 km from the city
  • From May to June and SeptemberThe best months to visit

Xiliao River, month by month

Highest water: from August to September

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

33
-13°2 mmJan
23
-10°4 mmFeb
23
-2°6 mmMar
52
8°14 mmApr
70
16°32 mmMay
120
21°70 mmJun
230
23°124 mmJul
290
22°94 mmAug
280
16°39 mmSep
230
8°20 mmOct
120
-2°6 mmNov
56
-10°2 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 23 m³/s in the lowest month to 290 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

Xiliao River: the basin in numbers

136,925 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 93% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 7.9millionpeople live in the basin
  • 57/km²people per km²
  • 603maverage altitude of the basin
  • 414mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 5.1°Caverage air temperature
  • 7%protected areas
  • 0.4%covered by lakes
  • 3.0km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 11% Forest
  • 20% Cropland
  • 73% 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

Xiliao River: what you find on the way

  • 9Dams
  • 20Weirs

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Xiliao 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.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Hongshan Shuiku (reservoar i Kina, Inre Mongoliet)km 25959km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Xiliao River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Xiliao River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth50 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

Xiliao River in pictures

哲里木大桥 - Zhelimu Bridge - 2011.07 - panoramio (1)
rheins · CC BY 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (2)

Also: Xar Moron River, Laoha He

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1416521) · 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 — 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