Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
/
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
: مرغاب, ''Morqâb''), anciently the Margiana (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: Μαργιανή, ''Margianḗ''), is an long river in
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. It rises in the
Paropamisus Mountains
The Paropamisus Mountains on www.ezilon.com (locally known as Selseleh-ye Safīd KūhGhor Province, flows through the Marghab District in central
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, then runs northwest towards the Bala Murghab. Reaching the oasis of
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
in the
Karakum Desert
The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : " ...
of
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
, the Marghab debouches into the
Karakum Canal
The Karakum Canal (Qaraqum Canal, Kara Kum Canal, Garagum Canal; russian: Каракумский канал, ''Karakumskiy Kanal'', tk, Garagum kanaly, , ) in Turkmenistan is one of the largest irrigation and water supply canals in the world. St ...
, a diversion of water from the
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...
. The catchment area of the Marghab is estimated at .
Geography
The Marghab River originates in the Ghor Province of central Afghanistan, on a plateau among the chain of mountains of Paropamisus, Gharjistan and Band-i Turkestan. In its higher course, the river runs from east to west, towards Mukhamedkhan, for about in a narrow, steep valley measuring less than one kilometer in width, with narrow gorges in some places.
Between Darband-i Kilrekht and Mukhammedkhan, the Marghab crosses the western part of Band-i Turkestan, and then runs toward the northwest in a deep canyon. At Mukhammedkhan, it crosses the gorges of Jaokar. After this, the valley widens somewhat, gradually reaching a width of in Turkmenistan. Beyond Mukhamedkhan, a small portion of the water of the Marghab is used for irrigation; approximately are irrigated from the Marghab in Afghanistan. The Marghab receives the waters of the Kaysar river on the right, then forms the border between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan over a length.
In the territory of Turkmenistan, close to
Tagtabazar
Tagtabazar (formerly Panjdeh or Pendi) is the capital town of Tagtabazar District in the Mary Province of Turkmenistan.
See also
*Panjdeh incident
The Panjdeh Incident (known in Russian historiography as the Battle of Kushka) was an armed ...
, the Marghab receives the Kashan River from the left bank, and further, there is the confluence of the Kushk. Reaching the oasis of
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, the Marghab mingles its waters with those of the
Karakum Canal
The Karakum Canal (Qaraqum Canal, Kara Kum Canal, Garagum Canal; russian: Каракумский канал, ''Karakumskiy Kanal'', tk, Garagum kanaly, , ) in Turkmenistan is one of the largest irrigation and water supply canals in the world. St ...
, a diversion of water from the
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...
.
File:دره سپرف مرغاب ولایت غور.jpg, The fertile Marghab Valley in Afghanistan
File:Bala Murghab, bridge D17.jpg, A bridge across the Marghab in 1962
File:Gorskii 04414u.jpg, The generators of Hindu Kush hydro power plant (Гиндукушская ГЭС) on Marghab River soon after its completion in 1909 by the Hungarian
Ganz Works
The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and the ...
. At the time, it was the largest hydro power generating station of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
Hydrometry: the flows at Tagtabazar
The flow of Marghab was observed during 50 years (1936–85) at
Tagtabazar
Tagtabazar (formerly Panjdeh or Pendi) is the capital town of Tagtabazar District in the Mary Province of Turkmenistan.
See also
*Panjdeh incident
The Panjdeh Incident (known in Russian historiography as the Battle of Kushka) was an armed ...
, a location in Turkmenistan about after the Marghab leaves the Afghan territory, and a score of kilometers upstream of the confluence with the Kushk.UNESCO - Bassin du Murghab - Station : Takhta-Bazar At Tagtabazar, average annual flow observed over this period was for an observed surface area of , which is 74 percent of the totality of the
catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
of the river. The geographically-averaged hydrometric flow passing through this part of the basin, by far greatest from the point of view of the flow, thus reached the figure of 44.3 millimeters per annual, which is very appreciable in this particularly desiccated area.
A 2021 study indicates that in the near term (by 2040), the Marghab's flow could fall by as much as one-third due to climate change, and by 40 percent by the end of the 21st century.