Abai Region
Abai Region (, ) is a Regions of Kazakhstan, region of Kazakhstan. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced on 16 March 2022 that the region would be created. The area split off from East Kazakhstan Region when Tokayev's bill came into force on 8 ...
,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
. It has a length of and a
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
of .
Google Earth
Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...
The river flows across Ürjar village, the administrative center of Ürjar District. It is one of the three most important rivers flowing into Alakol lake. Its waters are used to irrigate crops and pasture areas.
Course
The Ürjar originates in the southern slopes of the western part of the
Tarbagatai Range
The Tarbagatai Mountains are a mountain range straddling the China–Kazakhstan border, located in northwestern Xinjiang, China, and the Abai Region of East Kazakhstan. The name of the mountain derived from the Mongolian word ''tarvaga'', meani ...
. It heads roughly southwards all along its course. In its upper section it flows as a typical mountain river within a narrow and deep valley with frequent
rapids
Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...
. After leaving the mountain area it enters the wide
Balkhash-Alakol Basin
The Balkhash-Alakol Basin or Balkhash-Alakol Depression(; ), is a flat structural basin in southeastern Kazakhstan.Ürjar. The speed of its current slows down, its channel widens and forms
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
s. Further downstream it divides into arms. Finally it reaches the northern lakeshore of lake Alakol near Kamyskala, former Ribachy village.
The river is fed partly by snow and partly by groundwater. Its main tributaries are rivers Bazarka, Kusak and Karagaila on the left, and Eginsu on the right.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia'', vol. 9 / Ch. ed. B.O. Jakyp. — Almaty: « Kazakh encyclopedia» ZhSS, 2011. ISBN 9965-893-64-0(T.Z.), ISBN 9965-893-19-5
See also
*
List of rivers of Kazakhstan
This is a list of rivers of Kazakhstan, arranged by drainage basin. Tributaries are listed in order from mouth to source. Flowing into the Arctic Ocean Ob Irtysh (''Ertis'') River
*Tobol
** Ubagan
** Ayat
** Uy
** Syntasty
* Ishim
** Imanburlyq
* ...