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River

Akhurian River

186 km from source to mouth · Turkey and Armenia.

TurkeyArmeniaTurkey and ArmeniaFlows into Aras River

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

186km

Average flow

270m³/s

Basin

9,670km²

Drop

1,035m

from 1,997 m to 962 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

186 km of river and 17 stops on the way: 12 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,997 m962 m
Lake Arpiat 1,997 m0 km
Pokr Sepasar173 people21 km
Vahramaberd1,455 people51 km
Akhurik1,243 people70 km
Karakhantributary78 km
Akhurian Reservoir18 km²98 km
AniUNESCO World Heritage114 km
Aragatsavan5,053 people147 km
Aras Riverat 962 m186 km
050100150186 km
  1. 0 kmLake Arpiat 1,997 m
  2. 0 kmLake Arpi15 km²
  3. 21 kmPokr Sepasar173 people
  4. 34 kmBandivan259 people
  5. 51 kmVahramaberd1,455 people
  6. 70 kmAkhurik1,243 people
  7. 78 kmKarakhantributary
  8. 87 kmIsahakyan824 people
  9. 91 kmKars Rivertributary
  10. 92 kmAghin382 people
  11. 98 kmAkhurian Reservoir18 km²
  12. 98 kmBaşgedikler343 people
  13. 114 kmAniUNESCO World Heritage
  14. 114 kmSilk Road Bridge, Ani
  15. 128 kmAnipemza260 people
  16. 134 kmTlik123 people
  17. 135 kmGetap159 people
  18. 147 kmAragatsavan5,053 people
  19. 186 kmAras Riverat 962 m

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

River in Armenia and Turkey

At the mouth it carries 269 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 9.3 seconds. It drops from 1,997 m to 962 m, 5.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 9,670 km², about the size of CY. 464,000 people live in it. Highest water: May; lowest: from December to February and September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 73% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Akhurian River, month by month

Highest water: May

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

12
-8°22 mmJan
3.1
-6°26 mmFeb
65
0°28 mmMar
79
8°45 mmApr
98
13°72 mmMay
67
16°58 mmJun
49
21°34 mmJul
27
21°26 mmAug
16
16°22 mmSep
25
10°37 mmOct
31
3°27 mmNov
24
-4°22 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 3.1 m³/s in the lowest month to 98 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 EVN airport (Yerevan)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

Akhurian River: the basin in numbers

9,678 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 73% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 464,000people live in the basin
  • 48/km²people per km²
  • 1,971maverage altitude of the basin
  • 537mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 4.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas
  • 1.6%covered by lakes
  • 0.5km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 1% Forest
  • 29% Cropland
  • 30% Pasture
  • 2% 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

Akhurian River: what you find on the way

  • 7DamsAchurjan Dam and 6 more
  • 1Weirs
  • 2WaterfallsBlind Boy Waterfall, Asti Waterfall

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Akhurian 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.

  • 2lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 3mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Arpikm 0 · 8 m deep15km²
  2. Akhurian Reservoirkm 8418km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (3)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Zarishat12 km away2,982m
  2. Eritsler7.8 km away2,447m
  3. Yeznasar9.3 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Akhurian River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Akhurian River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth13 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

Akhurian River in pictures

Akhurian River Gorge
Unknown author · CC BY 2.0
Akhurian river
Armenak Margarian · CC BY-SA 4.0
Akhurian River 2017-04-17
Armenak Margarian · CC BY-SA 4.0
Akhurian river ԱԹ 01
23artashes · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Aras RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan1,072 km280 m³/s

Tributaries (5)

Also: Kars River, Tsaghkashen, Karakhan, Ashotsk, Sevget

In the same basin

Kura RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan1,360 km440 m³/sAlazaniAzerbaijanAzerbaijan351 km98 m³/sHrazdan RiverArmeniaArmenia141 km18 m³/sIori RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan320 km120 m³/sDebedGeorgiaGeorgia178 km30 m³/sVorotan RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan178 km22 m³/sAragvi RiverGeorgiaGeorgia112 km33 m³/sArpa RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan128 km21 m³/sKhrami RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan201 km51 m³/sAzat RiverArmeniaArmenia55 km36 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Hrazdan RiverArmeniaArmenia141 km18 m³/s69 km awayKasagh RiverArmeniaArmenia89 km6.8 m³/s53 km awayAzat RiverArmeniaArmenia55 km36 m³/s76 km awayArpa RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan128 km21 m³/s134 km awayDebedGeorgiaGeorgia178 km30 m³/s177 km awayKhrami RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan201 km51 m³/s182 km awayAragvi RiverGeorgiaGeorgia112 km33 m³/s210 km awayAghstevAzerbaijanAzerbaijan133 km8.2 m³/s197 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1996981) · 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