River
Karun River
950 km from source to mouth · Iran.
IranFlows into Shatt al-Arab2nd longest in Iran
In numbers
Length
950km
Average flow
580m³/s
Basin
65,230km²
Drop
2,374m
from 2,374 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
950 km of river and 20 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 2,374 m
- 342 kmLake Shahyoun73 km²
- 384 kmDezful264,709 people
- 427 kmḨorr9,177 people
- 429 kmMīānrūd10,110 people
- 590 kmDez Rivertributary
- 616 kmVeys15,312 people
- 647 kmSheybān36,374 people
- 680 kmAhvaz Seventh Bridge
- 681 kmPol Siah
- 682 kmIsland Park Bridge (Ahvaz)
- 683 kmWhite Bridge
- 683 kmMoin al-Tojar Caravanserai
- 683 kmAhvaz841,145 people
- 683 kmAhvaz Fourth Bridge
- 684 kmQadir Bridge
- 684 kmAhvaz Silo
- 685 kmAhvaz Fifth Bridge
- 693 kmDarvīsheh11,820 people
- 694 kmKūt-e ‘Abdollāh56,252 people
- 923 kmKhorramshahr330,606 people
- 950 kmShatt al-Arabat 0 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 575 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.3 seconds. It drops from 2,374 m to 0 m, 2.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 65,230 km², about the size of LT. 4.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from July to October. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (41% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- AhvazLargest city on its banks · 841,145 people
- Qasem Soleimani International Airport (AWZ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the city
- On the water16 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From March to April and from October to NovemberThe best months to visit
Karun River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from March to April and from October to November.
From about 39 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,100 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
Karun River: the basin in numbers
72,045 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 4.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 65/km²people per km²
- 1,417maverage altitude of the basin
- 312mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 16.8°Caverage air temperature
- 5%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 9.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 4% Forest
- 18% Cropland
- 62% 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
Karun River: what you find on the way
- 16Weirs
- 10Boat ramps
- 4Ferry piers
- 1MarinasPersian Gulf Passenger Terminal
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Karun 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
29mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Shahyounkm 27173km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (29)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Kūh-e Eīlvak1.3 km away
- Zard Kūh11 km away
- Kūh-e Haft Tanān6.7 km away
- Kūh-e Vanak5.6 km away
- Kūh-e Shangī14 km away
- Kūh-e Kahnū7.1 km away
- Kūh-e Īl Vak3.9 km away
- Kūh-e Chehel Khesht4.5 km away
21 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
Karun River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Shatt al-Arab
Iraq200 km1,500 m³/sTributaries (8)
Also: Dez River, Khersan River, Dariun Canal, Bazoft River, Beheshtabad River, Monj River, Vanak River, Do Ab River (Karun)
In the same basin
Syria
TurkeyWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q461557) · 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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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit