The Manasi River (, ug, ماناس دەرياسى also called Manas) is in the south of
Dzungarian Basin
The Junggar Basin () is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in the northwest, the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the northeast, and the Tian Sh ...
,
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 ...
.
Historically, the Manas River crossed a large section of the
Gurbantünggüt Desert
The Gurbantünggüt Desert ( kk, Құрбантұңғыт шөлі; ug, قۇربانتۈڭغۈت قۇملۇقى, Qurbantüngghüt Qumluqi; zh, s=古尔班通古特沙漠 , t=古爾班通古特沙漠, p=Gǔ'ěrbāntōnggǔtè Shāmò) occupies a l ...
, terminating in
Lake Manas
The Manas Lake () is a salt lake in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. It is located in the western part of the Dzungarian Basin, within the Gurbantünggüt Desert. Administratively, the lake is in Hoboksar Mongol Autonomous County; the clos ...
(); its length then was about long. However, due to the water diversion for irrigation and other needs, the Manas River's water has not reached the eponymous lake since the 1960s, and the lake has gone dry.
[Weiming Cheng, Chenghu Zhou, Jianxin Li]
Research on evolution of Manas Lakes in Xinjiang over last 50 years
(2005).
Numerous reservoirs are constructed on the Manas River and connected streams in the
Shihezi
Shihezi is a sub-prefecture-level city in Northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has a population of 380,130 according to the 2010 census. The city is also home to Shihezi University, the second-largest comprehensive university under ...
City-
Manas County
Manas County is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture. It covers an area of and census it had a population of 170,000.
The county seat is the old town of Manas (), lo ...
area, including the Jiahezi Reservoir () with the dam at . The reservoirs and canals form an extensive irrigation system in the area.
Notes
Rivers of Xinjiang
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