The Sajur ( ; ) is a long river originating in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and flowing into the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. It is the smallest of the three rivers joining the Euphrates in Syria, and the only one that joins the Euphrates on its western bank. Occupation in the Sajur basin started in the

Lower Palaeolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

period and continues until today.

Course

The Sajur River is long, of which are in Turkey and in Syria. It is thought to originate in a place to the west of

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

, called ''Sacır Başı'' in Turkish. Its name changes to ''Kavaklık deresi'' in the historic outskirts of Gaziantep, then to ''Alleben deresi'' in the old town, and later to ''Tabakhane deresi'' ( tannery stream). As it leaves the old town dirty, it becomes ''Kara Akar'' ( black-flowing), regaining its original name Sajur shortly after. From there, the Sajur flows southeast until it crosses the

Syria–Turkey border The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey (; ) is long, and runs from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the tripoint with Iraq in the east. It runs across Upper Mesopotamia for some , crossing the Euphrates and ...

. The river then continues in a roughly easterly direction until it joins the Euphrates on its right bank in the area that is flooded by the

Tishrin Dam The Tishrin Dam (; ) is a dam on the Euphrates river, located east of Aleppo in Aleppo Governorate, Syria. The dam is high, and has 6 water turbines capable of producing 630 MW. Construction took place between 1991 and 1999. Rescue excavat ...

reservoir. In Syria, the river cuts a valley into the

Manbij Manbij (; ; ) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, west of the Euphrates. The 2004 census gives its population as nearly 100,000.

Plain that is between below the level of the plain, and up to wide. Average discharge is per second. Maximum discharge, occurring in the months February and March, is per second, while minimum discharge, recorded for June–October, is per second. Average annual discharge is . Both in terms of length, as well as discharge, the Sajur is the smallest of the three rivers that join the Euphrates on Syrian soil – the other two being the

Balikh The Balikh River () is a perennial river that originates in the spring of Ain al-Arous near Tell Abyad in the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests ecoregion. It flows due south and joins the Euphrates at the modern city ...

and the Khabur. The Sajur is also the only river in Syria that enters the Euphrates on its right bank; both the Balikh and the Khabur flow into the Euphrates on the left bank.

Drainage basin

The Sajur drains a total area of . The Syrian part of the Sajur basin – the Manbij Plain – has been particularly well-studied. This area is bounded on the north by the Syro–Turkish border and extends as far south as Manbij. To the west, the Manbij Plain is bordered by

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

outcrops; probably the remains of a

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

. In the southeast of the plain,

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

outcrops force the Euphrates into the gorge of Qara Quzaq. These outcrops reach a height of over the plain. Reaching heights of

amsl Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

in the north, west and south, the Manbij Plain slopes down to amsl toward the east. In the western part of the drainage basin, flat grounds with fertile red-brown soils can be found, and this area is suitable for agriculture. Toward the east and along the Sajur, the plain is dissected by numerous wadis, making these parts of the area less suitable for human occupation and agriculture. The Manbij Plain experiences a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

. Average temperatures range from in January to in July. Annual average precipitation is , but ranges from a minimum of per year in dry years to per year in exceptionally wet years. Although much of the area is cultivated today, combined palaeobotanical, climate and vegetation research suggest that the basin would support a

xeric Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (Ancient Greek 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habita ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

vegetation with open

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

forest and ''

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus '' Rosa''. The family includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but som ...

'' (rose/plum family) in the absence of human activity.

History

Occupation of the Sajur river basin started as early as the Lower Palaeolithic period, as evidenced by

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated with ''Homo ...

stone artefacts.

Middle Palaeolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

artefacts have been found as well.

Economy

Both Turkey and Syria use water from the Sajur for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

purposes. Since the 19th century, occupation in and cultivation of the Sajur basin have steadily increased, especially in the western, more fertile part of the area. The introduction of motorized pumps has led to a considerable decrease of the groundwater table, with the effect that many wells have dried up. Turkey has built the Kayacık Dam on the Ayfinar Deresi, one of the two streams that join to form the Sajur. This high dam creates a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

with a surface area of . From this reservoir, an area of is irrigated. A

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

with a planned reservoir capacity of is under construction on the Syrian part of the Sajour. The city of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

disposes part of its wastewater into the Sajur drainage system.

Notes

References