The Sefid-Rud ( fa, سفیدرود, lit=white river, glk, اسپي بيه, ''Espī bīeh'') (also known as

Sepid-Rud The Sefid-Rud ( fa, سفیدرود, lit=white river, glk, اسپي بيه, ''Espī bīeh'') (also known as Sepid-Rud) is a river approximately long, rising in the Alborz mountain range of northwestern Iran and flowing generally northeast to e ...

) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

approximately long, rising in the

Alborz mountain range The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...

of northwestern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and flowing generally northeast to enter the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

Rasht Rasht ( fa, رشت, Rašt ; glk, Rəšt, script=Latn; also romanized as Resht and Rast, and often spelt ''Recht'' in French and older German manuscripts) is the capital city of Gilan Province, Iran. Also known as the "City of Rain" (, ''Ŝahre B ...

. The river is Iran's second longest river after the

Karun The Karun ( fa, کارون, ) is the Iranian river with the highest water flow, and its only navigable river. It is long. It rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as t ...

Names

Other names and transcriptions include Sepīd-Rūd, Sefidrud, Sefidrood, Sepidrood, and Sepidrud. Above

Manjil Manjil ( fa, Manjil, also Romanized as Manjīl and Menjīl ; derived from Manzil) is a city in the Central District of Rudbar County, Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 16,028, in 4,447 families. Geography Manjil is k ...

, "Long Red River".Fortescue, L. S. (April 1924) "The Western Elburz and Persian Azerbaijan" ''The Geographical Journal'' 63(4): pp. 301-315, p.310Rawlinson, H. C. (1840) "Notes on a Journey from Tabríz, Through Persian Kurdistán, to the Ruins of Takhti-Soleïmán, and from Thence by Zenján and Ṭárom, to Gílán, in October and November, 1838; With a Memoir on the Site of the Atropatenian Ecbatana" ''Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London'' 10: pp. 1-64, p. 64 The river is identified with the

Amardus Amardus or Mardus ( grc, Ἀμάρδος, Μάρδος, Amárdos, Márdos) was a river of Media, mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus in his confused description of the Persian provinces and by Ptolemy places it in Media, and if we take his numbers ...

( grc, Ἀμάρδος) or Mardus (Μάρδος) river of antiquity. The river is historically famous for the quantity of its

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

, especially the Caspian trout, ''

Salmo trutta The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

caspius''.

Geography

The Sefid-Rud has cut a water gap through the

, the

gap,Fortescue, L. S. (April 1924) "The Western Elburz and Persian Azerbaijan" ''The Geographical Journal'' 63(4): pp. 301-315, p.303 capturing its two headwater tributaries, the

Qizil Üzan Ghezel Ozan ( fa, قزل اوزن / ''Qezel Owzan'') is one of the longest rivers in Iran, originating from the Chehel Cheshmeh Mountains between Saqqez and Divandarreh in Kurdistan Province flowing in northern Iran. It flows through Kurdista ...

and

Shahrood Shahrood ( fa, شاهرود, also Romanized as Shâhrūd, and Shahroud; also known as Shârūd) is a city and capital of Shahrood County, Semnan Province, Iran. Situated about an altitude of 1345 m, it is located at latitude 36°25'N, longitu ...

rivers. It then widens the valley between the Talesh Hills and the main

Alborz The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...

range. The gap provides a major route between

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

and Gīlān Province with its Caspian lowlands. In the wide valley before the Sefid-Rud enters the

a number of transportation and irrigation canals have been cut; the two biggest are the Khomam and the Now.

Dam and reservoir

The Sefid-Rud was dammed in 1962 by the Shahbanu Farah Dam (later renamed

Manjil Dam Sefidrud Dam (originally named Shahbanu Farah Dam and also known as the Manjil Dam) is a buttress dam on the Sefīd-Rūd in the Alborz mountain range, located near Manjil in Gilan Province, northern Iran. It was constructed to store water for ...

),Beaumont, Peter (1974) "Water Resource Development in Iran" ''The Geographical Journal'' 140(3): pp. 418-431, p.428 which created a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

and allowed the irrigation of an additional . The reservoir mediates some flooding and significantly increased rice production in the Sefid Rud Delta. The hydroelectric component of the dam generates 87,000 kilowatts. The completion of the dam had a negative impact on the river's fisheries, through reduced stream flow (due to diversion), increased water temperature, and decreased food availability, especially for sturgeon but also for the Caspian trout. Sefidrood360

History

The river was known in antiquity by the names Mardos ( el, Μαρδος; la, Mardus) and Amardos ( el, Αμαρδος; la, Amardus). In the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

period the north side of the Sefid (then Mardus) was occupied by the

mountain tribe Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains. This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation. The climate is generally harsh, with s ...

the

Cadusii The Cadusii (also called Cadusians; grc, Καδούσιοι, ''Kadoúsioi''; Latin: ''Cadusii'') were an ancient Iranian tribe that lived in the mountains between Media and the shore of the Caspian Sea. The area that the Cadusii lived in bordere ...

.Strabo, xi. 13
/ref>

David Rohl The New Chronology is an alternative chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with ''A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History'' in 1995. It contradicts mainstream ...

identifies the Sefid-Rud with the Biblical

Pishon The Pishon ( ''Pîšōn'') is one of four rivers (along with Hiddekel (Tigris), Perath (Euphrates) and Gihon) mentioned in the Biblical Book of Genesis. In that passage, a source river flows out of Eden to water the Garden of Eden and from th ...

river.

Gallery

File:Sefidrood.jpg File:Sefidrood2.jpg

Notes

External links

"Sefid Rood Watershed"
''Economic potentials of Kurdistan Province in the fields of Water, Agriculture and Natural Resources'' Ministry of Interior, Islamic Republic of Iran {{Rivers of Iran Rivers of Gilan Province Alborz (mountain range) Tributaries of the Caspian Sea Landforms of Kurdistan Province Landforms of East Azerbaijan Province Landforms of Ardabil Province Landforms of Zanjan Province Landforms of Qazvin Province Landforms of Tehran Province Landforms of Gilan Province