The Kelan River () is a 265-km long river in

Altay Prefecture Altay Prefecture is located in Northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and a population of 561,667 (2000). It is a part of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. At the 2000 census, Altay was the only major subdivision of Ili ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

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 ...

. The river begins on southern slopes of

Altai mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...

in Xinjiang near the border with

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. It then flows through the urban centre of

Altay City Altay is a county-level city in Altay Prefecture within Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, in far Northern Xinjiang, China. The city centre is located on the slopes of Kelan River. Administrative divisions Subdistricts () *Jinshan (Altin Taw ...

and discharges into the

Irtysh The Irtysh ( otk, 𐰼𐱅𐰾:𐰇𐰏𐰕𐰏, Ertis ügüzüg, mn, Эрчис мөрөн, ''Erchis mörön'', "erchleh", "twirl"; russian: Иртыш; kk, Ертіс, Ertis, ; Chinese: 额尔齐斯河, pinyin: ''É'ěrqísī hé'', Xiao'erj ...

, of which it is a major early tributary. It is mostly fed by seasonal melting snow (with snow being responsible for up to 45% of the annual discharge), with precipitation during the summer and groundwater playing secondary roles. Because of the long cold winter in the area, winter precipitation (January to March) exists in the basin in the form of seasonal snow, and after entering the spring, it mainly melts into the river channel from May to June.

References

{{Reflist Rivers of Xinjiang Altay Prefecture