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River

Kızılırmak River

1,355 km from source to mouth · Turkey.

TurkeyTurkeyFlows into Black Sea1st longest in Turkey

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

1,355km

Average flow

500m³/s

Basin

77,100km²

Drop

1,658m

from 1,658 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

1,355 km of river and 24 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,658 m0 m
İmranlıat 1,658 m0 km
Sivas264,022 people146 km
Felahiye district6,602 people352 km
Avanos12,833 people469 km
Hirfanlı Reservoir184 km²641 km
Karakeçili8,468 people699 km
Delice Rivertributary884 km
Devreztributary1,050 km
Altınkaya Reservoir74 km²1,217 km
Black Seaat 0 m1,355 km
05001,0001,355 km
  1. 0 kmİmranlıat 1,658 m
  2. 61 kmZara12,797 people
  3. 83 kmTödürge Lake2.9 km²
  4. 105 kmLake Hafik0.6 km²
  5. 146 kmSivas264,022 people
  6. 147 kmBent Bridge
  7. 156 kmKesik Köprü
  8. 352 kmFelahiye district6,602 people
  9. 469 kmAvanos12,833 people
  10. 493 kmGülşehir9,740 people
  11. 547 kmKesikköprü
  12. 641 kmHirfanlı Reservoir184 km²
  13. 699 kmKarakeçili8,468 people
  14. 705 kmÇeşnigir Bridge
  15. 748 kmYahşihan Iron Bridge
  16. 752 kmElmadağ Bridge
  17. 777 kmKalecik Bridge
  18. 884 kmDelice Rivertributary
  19. 1,003 kmOsmancık36,443 people
  20. 1,003 kmKoyun Baba Bridge
  21. 1,050 kmDevreztributary
  22. 1,137 kmGökırmak Rivertributary
  23. 1,217 kmAltınkaya Reservoir74 km²
  24. 1,218 kmAltınkaya Dam
  25. 1,257 kmBafra92,944 people
  26. 1,355 kmBlack Seaat 0 m

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

River in Turkey, tributary of the Black Sea

At the mouth it carries 500 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.0 seconds. It drops from 1,658 m to 0 m, 1.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 77,100 km², about the size of PA. 3.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from August to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 153% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • SivasLargest city on its banks · 264,022 people
  • Sivas Nuri Demirağ Airport (VAS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 12 km from the cityCar hire at VAS airport (Sivas)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Kızılırmak River, month by month

Highest water: from January to February

Lowest water: from August to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.

480
0°48 mmJan
470
2°38 mmFeb
400
6°42 mmMar
380
10°50 mmApr
370
14°54 mmMay
310
18°39 mmJun
200
21°14 mmJul
120
21°13 mmAug
100
17°21 mmSep
170
12°35 mmOct
270
7°42 mmNov
410
3°53 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 100 m³/s in the lowest month to 480 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 VAS airport (Sivas)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

Kızılırmak River: the basin in numbers

75,679 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 153% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 3.7millionpeople live in the basin
  • 49/km²people per km²
  • 1,161maverage altitude of the basin
  • 465mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 9.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 0.4%covered by lakes
  • 12km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 13% Forest
  • 37% Cropland
  • 18% 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

Kızılırmak River: what you find on the way

  • 31Damsİmranlı Barajı, Yıldızeli Çağlayan Barajı, Yamula Dam and 28 more
  • 12Weirs
  • 1Waterfalls
  • 2Canoe put-ins
  • 3Ferry piersBoats for canyon
  • 1Marinas

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

Cross-checked with our atlases

Kızılırmak 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.

  • 4lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 4mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (4)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Tödürge Lakekm 732.9km²
  2. Lake Hafikkm 910.6km²
  3. Hirfanlı Reservoirkm 559184km²
  4. Altınkaya Reservoirkm 1,06274km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (4)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Peynirli Tepe8.6 km away
  2. Kızıl Dağ9.6 km away
  3. Karadağ7.9 km away
  4. Pilav Hill6.3 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Kızılırmak River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Kızılırmak River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth38 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

Kızılırmak River in pictures

Kırıkkale 08 10 2007 Kızılırmaktal
Volker Höhfeld · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kızılırmak River in Avanos
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0
Bafra kızılırmak bridge, kızılırmak delta
Leyla kılınç · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kızılırmak 22
Malssuchen · CC BY 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (3)

Also: Delice River, Gökırmak River, Devrez

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Yeşilırmak RiverTurkeyTurkey519 km150 m³/s69 km awayKubanRussiaRussia870 km420 m³/s419 km awayPsouGeorgiaGeorgia53 km19 m³/s378 km awayBzyb RiverGeorgiaGeorgia110 km97 m³/s389 km awayMurat RiverTurkeyTurkey722 km400 m³/s399 km awayAlmaUkraineUkraine83 km1.2 m³/s396 km awaySakarya RiverTurkeyTurkey824 km240 m³/s448 km awayRioniGeorgiaGeorgia327 km400 m³/s472 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q257785) · 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