The Emil ( kz, Еміл, ''Emıl''; russian: Эмель ''Emel'') or Emin (), also spelled Emel, Imil, etc., is a river in China and Kazakhstan. It flows through
Tacheng (Tarbagatay) Prefecture of China's
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
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 ...
and the
East Kazakhstan Province of Kazakhstan, and is one of the principal affluents of
Lake Alakol.
The Emil River is the principal watercourse of the
Emin Valley
The Emin Valley () is located on the China–Kazakhstan border, in Central Asia. It has an area of about . Its main waterway is the Emil River.
Administratively, the Emin Valley occupies areas of Tacheng Prefecture in the Xinjiang Region of n ...
, the plain bounded by the
Tarbagatai Mountains in the north, the Barlyk Mountains () in the southeast and Lake Alakol in the west. The Emil's headwaters are two streams, the Sary Emil ("Yellow Emil") and Kara Emil ("Black Emil"), which rise near the
Sino-Kazakh border in the Tarbagatai Mountains, near the Tarbagatai's junction with the
Saur. The two Emils flow in the west-south-western direction, eventually joining together, across
Dörbiljin County (which is called in Chinese as Emin County, after the river). The river continues it flow to the west, the border of
Tacheng
TachengThe official spelling according to (), as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Mongolian as Qoqak, is a county-level city (1994 est. pop. 56,400) and the administrative seat of Tacheng Prefecture, in northern Ili Kazakh A ...
City and
Yumin County mostly following its course. The Emil crosses the Sino-Kazakh border at , and after a short stretch in Kazakhstan discharges into
Lake Alakol, where it forms a small
delta. The total length of the
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...
ing river is estimated at , of which is China and in Kazakhstan.
Emin Town, the county seat of Emin County, is situated in the Emil River valley.
Similarly to the much larger and better known
Ili
Ili, ILI, Illi may refer to:
Abbreviations
* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent
* Intuitive Logical Introvert, a personality type in socionics
* Influenza-like illness
* Iran Language Institute, a state-owned, non-profit ...
, the Emil receives most of its water from the mountains on the Chinese side of the border and is an essential for the water balance of a major lake in Kazakhstan (the Alakol in case of the Emil, the
Balkhash for the Ili). Accordingly, the management of its water within China is also of concern for Kazakhstan, and is a subject of interaction between the authorities of the two countries.
Казахстан и Китай решили совместо использовать трансграничные реки. Пока Иртыш не высох...
(Kazakhstan and China have decided to jointly use transborder rivers. While the Irtysh has not dried out...). 2003-02-25
Notes
Rivers of Xinjiang
Rivers of Kazakhstan
{{Kazakhstan-river-stub