The water bodies of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

were formed over a long geological timeframe and changed significantly throughout that period. This is particularly evidenced by remnants of ancient rivers found throughout the country. The country's water systems are continually changing under the influence of natural forces and human introduced industrial activities. Artificial rivers (

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or river engineering, engineered channel (geography), channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport watercraft, vehicles (e.g. ...

) and

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

s are a part of Azerbaijan's water systems. The

hydrography Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primar ...

of Azerbaijan basically belongs to the

Caspian Sea basin Caspian can refer to: *The Caspian Sea *The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea *The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea *Caspian languages, collection of languages and dialects of Caspian peopl ...

Rivers

Rivers form the principal part of the water systems of Azerbaijan. There are 8,359 rivers of various lengths within Azerbaijan. Of them, 8,188 rivers are less than long. Only 24 rivers are over long. The largest rivers that flow through the country are: * Kür, main water source and the artery of the country *

Araz , az, Araz, fa, ارس, tr, Aras The Aras (also known as the Araks, Arax, Araxes, or Araz) is a river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan excl ...

* Qanıx, located in Alazan * Qabırlı, also known as Iori *

Khrami , name_etymology = , image = Khrami River Kirach Muganlo.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Khrami near Kirach Muganlo, Georgia , map = KhramiRiver800px.svg , map_size = , map_ ...

Samur Samur may refer to: People * Samur Gunj (1380s-c.1455), a daughter of Elbeg Nigülesügchi Khan and his senior wife Kobeguntai Places * Qaleh Samur, a village in Gavork-e Sardasht Rural District, in the Central District of Sardasht County, West A ...

* Pirsaatçay *

Bolgar-Chay The Bolgarchay (Bolqar çay in Azerbaijani language, Azerbaijani, بالهارود Bālhārūd in Persian language, Persian), is a river, forming part of the Azerbaijan–Iran border. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Jalilabad District * Ağstafa * Hekeriychay, also known as Hekeri *

Kurekchay Kurekchay ( az, Kürəkçay) is one of the tributaries of the Kura River located in northwestern part of Azerbaijan. On 14 May 1805, on the bank of the river (not far from Ganja), the signing of the Kurekchay Treaty took place, which transferred ...

* Tərtərçay **

Ağdabançay Ağdabançay is one of the tributaries of the Tartarchay located in Karabakh region of Republic of Azerbaijan. Overview Ağdabançay is the left tributary of Tartarchay, a long river flowing from an altitude of in central Kalbajar District into ...

Levçay The Levçay is one of the tributaries of the Tartarchay in western Azerbaijan. Overview Levçay is a left tributary of Tartarchay, a long river flowing from mountains in central Kalbajar District into Tartarchay. The latter proceeds west through ...

** Turağayçay * Türyançay *

Vilesh The Vileshchay ( az, Viləşçay, tly, Viləşərü, script=Latn) is a river of Azerbaijan. It is one of the larger rivers of the country, flowing into the Caspian Sea in southeastern Azerbaijan. Overview Vilesh is a part of Gizil-Agach State Re ...

Qarqarçay The Qarqarçay () or Karkar ( hy, Կարկառ) is a river located in Azerbaijan, in the drainage basin of the Kura. Parts of the river flow through the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. Its length is , the area of the basin is .''Azerbaijan Soviet E ...

River system

The rivers in Azerbaijan can be divided into three groups: #The Kur basin rivers (Qanix, Qabirri, Turyan, Agstafa, Shekir, Terter, Khachin, etc.) #The Araz basin rivers (Arpachay, Nakhchivan, Okhchu, Hekeri, Kondelenchay, etc.) #Rivers, flowing directly into the Caspian Sea (Samur, Gudyal, Velvele, Vilesh, Lenkeran, etc.) Azerbaijan river systems are changing and evolving under the influence of various physiographic factors: climate, landscape, geological structure, soil and vegetation. The density of the river network increases, then gradually decreases later with higher altitudes. Except for the Talysh region (1.6-2.2 km/km²), the river system density is the highest (1–2 km/km²) at 1,000-2,500 kilometers, while in the area of the Talysh mountains it peaks at 1.6-2.2 km/km² at 500–1,000 km. The average density of the river system of Azerbaijan is 0.39 km/km². The density is even lower than 0.05 km/km² in the plains.

Kura and Aras

The Kur and Aras are the longest rivers in Azerbaijan. They run through the

Kur-Araz Lowland The Kura-Aras Lowland, Kura-Aras Depression or Kura-Aras Basin ( az, Kür-Araz ovalığı) is a vast depression in central-southern Azerbaijan defined by the valleys of the Kura River and Aras River. It is situated by the West shore of the Casp ...

. The rivers that directly flow into the Caspian Sea, originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of the

Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus ( az, Böyük Qafqaz, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; ka, დიდი კავკასიონი, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; russian: Большой Кавказ, ''Bolshoy Kavkaz'', sometimes translat ...

and

Talysh Mountains Talysh Mountains ( tly, Tolışə Bandon, script=Latn, fa, کوه‌های تالش, Kuhhâye Tâleš; az, Talış dağları) is a mountain range in far southeastern Azerbaijan and far northwestern Iran within Ardabil Province and Gilan Provin ...

and run along the Samur-Devechi and Lenkeran lowlands. The Kura River basin area (86,000 km²) up to the junction with the Aras River is smaller than the Aras water basin (101,937 km²). The river is still called Kura on the junction because the water level of the Kura is twice as high as that of the Aras River.

Lakes

* Ağgöl * Ajinohur * Alagöl * Boyukshor * Göygöl * Hajikabul * Jandari * Maral-gol * Masazirgol * Sarysu, the largest lake by area and volume

Reservoirs

Over 60 water reservoirs have been constructed in order to regulate the river flow in Azerbaijan. The formation of these reservoirs is one of the measures that has been undertaken in order to ration the utilization of water and energy resources. The largest water reservoirs are: * Agstafachay *

* Jeyranbatan * Khanbulanchay * Khudaferin *

Mingachevir Mingachevir ( az, Mingəçevir ) is the fourth-largest city in Azerbaijan with a population of about 106,000. It's often called the "city of lights" because of its hydroelectric power station on the Kur River, which divides the city down the mid ...

, the largest reservoir by area * Sarsang * Shamkir * Varvara * Vileshchay * Yenikend The reservoirs in Azerbaijan are designed to be utilized for various purposes, while most other ponds are used exclusively for irrigation.

References

External links

Scientific-Research Institute for Hydrometeorology
{{List of rivers of Europe

Bodies Of Water A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as p ...