River
Murat River
722 km from source to mouth · Turkey.
TurkeyFlows into Euphrates3rd longest in Turkey
In numbers
Length
722km
Average flow
400m³/s
Basin
40,000km²
Drop
1,153m
from 1,971 m to 818 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
722 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmMount Araratat 1,971 m
- 21 kmTaşbasamak985 people
- 31 kmDiyadin18,172 people
- 102 kmAğrı124,483 people
- 206 kmMalazgirt26,108 people
- 340 kmMercimekkale637 people
- 355 kmMurat Bridge
- 479 kmGenç22,493 people
- 547 kmPalu11,271 people
- 687 kmKeban Reservoir399 km²
- 722 kmEuphratesat 818 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Turkey
At the mouth it carries 404 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.2 seconds. It drops from 1,971 m to 818 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 40,000 km², about the size of CH. 1.7 million people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from March to May; lowest: February and from July to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (10% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- AğrıLargest city on its banks · 124,483 people
- Ağrı Airport (AJI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 7 km from the cityCar hire at EVN airport (Yerevan)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Murat River, month by month
Highest water: from March to May
Lowest water: February and from July to September. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 66 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,900 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
Murat River: the basin in numbers
40,392 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 42/km²people per km²
- 1,744maverage altitude of the basin
- 660mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.1°Caverage air temperature
- 0.8%covered by lakes
- 1.3km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 2% Forest
- 21% Cropland
- 35% 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
Murat River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 4Ferry piersPertek Ferry Point, Çemişgezek İskelesi, Elazığ İskelesi and 1 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Murat 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
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Keban Reservoirkm 620399km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Pivazok Hill15 km away
- Ala Dağ3.8 km away
- Hüdavendigar Dağı12 km away
- Koçbaşı Tepe4.9 km away
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
Murat River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Euphrates
Iraq2,800 km820 m³/sTributaries (1)
Also: Peri Brook
In the same basin
IranNearby
Rivers nearby
Turkey519 km150 m³/s333 km awayKızılırmak RiverTurkey1,355 km500 m³/s399 km awayBalikh River
Syria100 km15 m³/s328 km awayOrontes RiverTurkey571 km30 m³/s400 km awayÇoruh
Georgia438 km280 m³/s386 km awayCeyhan RiverTurkey474 km230 m³/s382 km awayAfrin RiverTurkey131 km61 m³/s361 km awayKhaburTurkey194 km150 m³/s368 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q913193) · 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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