Kherlen River (also known as Kern or Kerülen; ; ) is a 1,254 km river in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and China.

Course

The river originates in the south slopes of the

Khentii mountains The Khentii Mountains ( mn, Хэнтийн нуруу) are a mountain range in the Töv and Khentii Provinces in North Eastern Mongolia. Geography The mountain chain overlaps the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and includes Mongolia's ...

, near the

Burkhan Khaldun The Burkhan Khaldun (Cyrillic: Бурхан Халдун) is one of the Khentii Mountains in the Khentii Province of northeastern Mongolia. The mountain or its locality is believed to be the birthplace of Genghis Khan as well as his tomb. It ...

mountain in the

Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area The Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area is a government administered Strictly Protected Area in the Khentii aimag (province) in Eastern Mongolia. Strictly Protected Areas are regions of land designated by the Mongolian government as wildlife pre ...

, about northeast of

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

. This area constitutes the divide between the Arctic (

Tuul River , , "to wade through" , nickname = Queen Tuul , image = Tuul River Mongolia.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Tuul flowing through the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park , map = Toula (riv ...

) and Pacific (Kherlen,

Onon Onon may refer to: * Onon (river), river in Mongolia and Russia * Onon, Khentii, town in the Khentii Province of Mongolia * Onon (crater), crater on Mars named after the river {{disambig ...

) basins and is consequently named “Three River Basins”. From there the Kherlen flows in a mostly eastern direction through the Khentii aimag. On its further way it crosses the eastern Mongolian steppe past

Ulaan Ereg Ulaan ( mn, Улаан, ''red'', zh, 乌兰) may refer to: * Wulan County, Qinghai, China * Ulaan Taiga, a mountain range in north Mongolia See also

* Ulan (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

and Choibalsan, entering China at and emptying into Hulun Nuur after another .

Kherlen-Ergune-Amur

In years with high precipitation, the normally exitless

Hulun Lake Hulun Lake (; mn, hölön nuur Хөлөн нуур, lit. ''foot lake'') or Dalai Nor ( mn, Dalai nuur Далай нуур, lit. ''ocean lake''), is a large lake in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China. Geography It is one of the five large ...

may overflow at its northern shore, and the water will meet the Ergune River after about . The Ergune marks the border between

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and China for about , until it meets the Amur River. The system Kherlen-Ergune-Amur has a total length of .

References

{{China Rivers Kherulen river International rivers of Asia