The Aksu River (; ; means "white/clear water" in
Uyghur and
Kyrgyz language
Kyrgyz (; autonym: , tr. ''Kyrgyz tili'', ) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia. Kyrgyz is the official language of Kyrgyzstan and a significant minority language in the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in X ...
s) is a transboundary river in the
Xinjiang province
Xinjiang Province is a historical administrative area of Northwest China, between 1884 and 1955.
Periods during which various boundaries of Xinjiang Province have been defined include:
* Xinjiang Province (Qing) (1884–1912).
* Xinjiang Provin ...
in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Ak-Suu District
Ak-Suu ( ky, Ак-Суу району) is a district of Issyk-Kul Region in eastern Kyrgyzstan. The administrative center lies at the village Teploklyuchenka. Its area is , and its resident population was 69,439 in 2021.
Geography
Located in Kyrgy ...
of
Issyk-Kul Province of
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
. Its upper section in Kyrgyzstan is known as the Saryjaz River or Sarydzhaz River (, ky, Сарыжаз). The middle section, between the Kyrgyz-Chinese border and the confluence with the
Toshkan, is called Kumarik River (, ky, Сарыжаз).
The total length of the river is , of which are in Kyrgyzstan. It has a drainage basin of in Kyrgyzstan.
[{{cite book, script-title=ru:Иссык-Куль. Нарын. Энциклопедия., trans-title=Issyk-Kul. Naryn.Encyclopedia.
, publisher=Chief Editorial Board of Kyrgyz Soviet Encyclopedia, language=ru, location=Frunze, year=1991, isbn=5-89750-009-6
, pages=512] The Aksu is the only one of the Tarim's source rivers to run throughout the year.
Course
The river takes its roots at the
Semyonov glacier in the Central
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
mountains of Kyrgyzstan, close to the tripoint with Kazakhstan and China.
[ From here it first runs towards the west, before turning south and breaking through the high mountains and into Xinjiang in the northern parts of the ]Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
. At the city of Aksu it meets its main tributary, the Toshkan (''Kakshaal''), which flows in from the west. After the confluence the river continues south and enters the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert
The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...
, where it joins the Tarim River
The Tarim River ( zh, p=Tǎlǐmù Hé, c=塔里木河; ug, تارىم دەرياسى, Tarim deryasi), known in Sanskrit as the Śītā, is an endorheic river in Xinjiang, China. It is the principal river of the Tarim Basin, a desert region of C ...
.
The main tributaries, from source to mouth, are:[
*Köölü (right)
* Engilchek (left)
*Terekti (right)
*Kayyngdy (left)
*Üchköl (right)
*Ak-Shyyrak (right)
*Köykap (left)
*Jaman-Suu (left)
*Jangy-Jer (left)
*Temirsuu (left)
* Toshkan (Kakshaal) (right)
]
References
Rivers of Xinjiang
Rivers of Kyrgyzstan
International rivers of Asia
Sites along the Silk Road