River
Helmand River
1,150 km from source to mouth · Iran and Afghanistan.
Iran and AfghanistanFlows into Hamun-e Helmand1st longest in Iran
In numbers
Length
1,150km
Average flow
78m³/s
Basin
500,000km²
Drop
2,843m
from 3,320 m to 477 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
1,150 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmHindu Kushat 3,320 m
- 480 kmZakhīrah-ye Āb-e Band-e Kajakī43 km²
- 480 kmKajaki Dam
- 519 kmMusa Qala Rivertributary
- 521 kmSangīn13,579 people
- 562 kmGereshk43,588 people
- 595 kmLashkar Gāh43,934 people
- 613 kmArghandab Rivertributary
- 652 kmMarkaz-e Ḩukūmat-e Darwēshān9,012 people
- 741 kmKhān Neshīn25,600 people
- 793 km‘Alāqahdārī Dīshū9,196 people
- 872 kmRūdbār11,034 people
- 964 kmMīrābād14,160 people
- 1,030 kmZaranj49,851 people
- 1,150 kmHamun-e Helmandat 477 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Afghanistan and Iran
At the mouth it carries 78 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 32 seconds. It drops from 3,320 m to 477 m, 2.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 500,000 km², about the size of ES. 6.0 million people live in it. Highest water: March; lowest: from August to November. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (20% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- ZaranjLargest city on its banks · 49,851 people
- Zahedan International Airport (ZAH)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 189 km from the city
- On the water62 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From April to May and from September to OctoberThe best months to visit
Helmand River, month by month
Highest water: March
Lowest water: from August to November. Best months to visit: from April to May and from September to October.
From about 63 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,100 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
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The basin
Helmand River: the basin in numbers
191,989 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 6.0millionpeople live in the basin
- 31/km²people per km²
- 1,761maverage altitude of the basin
- 208mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 13.1°Caverage air temperature
- 3.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 1% Forest
- 11% Cropland
- 40% Pasture
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
Helmand River: what you find on the way
- 50Weirs
- 62Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Helmand 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
44mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Zakhīrah-ye Āb-e Band-e Kajakīkm 49443km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (44)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Kōh-e Shugur Khānah0.4 km away4,364m
- Kōh-e Sar-e Hilmand9.6 km away4,347m
- Kōh-e Sar-e Bēghamak3.8 km away4,217m
- Kōh-e Bughah12 km away4,165m
- Kōh-e Sārak14 km away3,859m
- Kōh-e Āb-e Rēg7.7 km away3,788m
- Kōh-e Sablār13 km away3,472m
- Kōh-e Rāst Darah7.9 km away
36 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
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
Helmand River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q8510) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, 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?
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