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River

Terek

623 km from source to mouth · Russia and Georgia.

RussiaGeorgiaRussia and GeorgiaFlows into Caspian Sea

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

623km

Average flow

300m³/s

Basin

43,200km²

Drop

2,267m

from 2,238 m to -29 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

623 km of river and 29 stops on the way: 10 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

2,238 m-29 m
Mount Kazbekat 2,238 m0 km
Vladikavkaz306,258 people83 km
Lake Bekan0.3 km²130 km
Leskentributary163 km
Kurptributary217 km
Znamenskoye9,641 people312 km
Naurskaya8,550 people337 km
Sunzhatributary423 km
Ozero Novoye (lanaw sa Rusya, Dagestan)1.7 km²553 km
Caspian Seaat -29 m623 km
0200400623 km
  1. 0 kmMount Kazbekat 2,238 m
  2. 36 kmSnostskalitributary
  3. 49 kmKistinka (river)tributary
  4. 62 kmArmkhitributary
  5. 81 kmChugunny bridge
  6. 82 kmtram bridge
  7. 82 kmKirovsky Bridge
  8. 83 kmVladikavkaz306,258 people
  9. 84 kmSeverny Bridge
  10. 89 kmNogir11,469 people
  11. 91 kmMikhaylovskoye10,479 people
  12. 105 kmBeslan35,604 people
  13. 130 kmLake Bekan0.3 km²
  14. 130 kmKambileevkatributary
  15. 130 kmArdontributary
  16. 139 kmUrsdontributary
  17. 156 kmTerek21,180 people
  18. 163 kmLeskentributary
  19. 163 kmUrukhtributary
  20. 174 kmArgudantributary
  21. 190 kmDemenyuktributary
  22. 199 kmMalkatributary
  23. 217 kmKurptributary
  24. 234 kmKizlyar8,544 people
  25. 239 kmMozdok40,823 people
  26. 312 kmZnamenskoye9,641 people
  27. 337 kmNaurskaya8,550 people
  28. 362 kmKalinovskaya8,305 people
  29. 423 kmSunzhatributary
  30. 553 kmOzero Novoye (lanaw sa Rusya, Dagestan)1.7 km²
  31. 623 kmCaspian Seaat -29 m

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

River in Georgia and Russia

At the mouth it carries 305 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.2 seconds. It drops from 2,238 m to -29 m, 3.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 43,200 km², about the size of DK. 3.6 million people live in it. Highest water: May; lowest: February. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Terek, month by month

Highest water: May

Lowest water: February. Best months to visit: from May to September.

250
-2°23 mmJan
56
-1°24 mmFeb
610
3°28 mmMar
720
11°41 mmApr
900
17°62 mmMay
720
21°75 mmJun
670
24°57 mmJul
530
23°48 mmAug
390
18°41 mmSep
380
11°36 mmOct
430
5°32 mmNov
450
0°28 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 56 m³/s in the lowest month to 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

Car hire at TBS airport (Tbilisi)Discover CarsSee 

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The basin

Terek: the basin in numbers

42,927 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 3.6millionpeople live in the basin
  • 84/km²people per km²
  • 1,044maverage altitude of the basin
  • 706mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 7.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 20%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 7%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 23% Forest
  • 23% Cropland
  • 33% Pasture
  • 4% Towns and cities
  • 1% Ice

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

Terek: what you find on the way

  • 9Dams
  • 12Weirs
  • 13WaterfallsWaterfall, Arsha Small Waterfall, Gveleti Big Waterfall and 10 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Terek 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
  • 17mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Bekankm 1260.3km²
  2. Ozero Novoye (lanaw sa Rusya, Dagestan)km 5371.7km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (17)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Keli Highland12 km away3,736m
  2. Zilgakhokhi2.1 km away3,857m
  3. Laghztsiti8.5 km away · prominence 745 m3,877m
  4. Didi Mepiskalo15 km away3,695m
  5. Vatsikparsi1.4 km away3,573m
  6. Esikomi14 km away3,572m
  7. Sharkhokhi11 km away3,303m
  8. Shadil-Khokh volcano10 km away3,296m

9 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Terek: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Terek: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth28 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

Terek in pictures

2024-08-02 Terek River in Stepantsminda
Alexkom000 · CC BY 4.0
Terek River, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Georgia
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
Vladikavkaz. Terek River PA160770 2575
Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vladikavkaz. Terek River PA160756 2575
Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (21)

Also: Sunzha, Malka, Ardon, Urukh, Kambileevka, Kistinka (river), Armkhi, Kurp, Lesken, Argudan, Snostskali, Demenyuk, Chkheri, Ursdon, Alikazgan, Baydara, Suatisi, Narvani, Esikomidoni, Desi, Suargom

Nearby

Rivers nearby

VolgaRussiaRussia3,530 km8,100 m³/s221 km awayAlazaniAzerbaijanAzerbaijan351 km98 m³/s303 km awayIori RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan320 km120 m³/s300 km awayAragvi RiverGeorgiaGeorgia112 km33 m³/s304 km awayDebedGeorgiaGeorgia178 km30 m³/s327 km awayKhrami RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan201 km51 m³/s324 km awayAghstevAzerbaijanAzerbaijan133 km8.2 m³/s314 km awayKsaniGeorgiaGeorgia84 km15 m³/s311 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q82776) · 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