Zerafshan River
With a length of 877 kilometers and a drainage basin of 17,100 square kilometers, the Zerafshan, or "Golden," River is one of the most important of Central Asia, providing water for irrigation to some of the region's most famous cities, among them Bukhara and Samarqand. Known as the Matcha in its upper reaches, the Zerafshan has its source in the Zerafshan Glacier at an altitude of 2,800 meters in Tajikistan's Koksu range of mountains. For its first 300 kilometers, the river flows through a narrow valley that opens out near the city of Penjikent. Below this point the river has no tributaries.
Near Samarqand the river divides into two main branches known as the Akdarya (White River) to the north and the Karadarya (Black River) to the south. As it approaches the Bukhara oasis the river becomes known as the Karakul Dar'ya.
The river's flow is entirely used for irrigation, particularly of cotton, which has been grown in the region since ancient times. As a result, it dries before reaching the Amu Dar'ya, which in recent times it has attained only in 1874 and 1921. Its lower reaches are, however, fed by the Amu-Bukhara Canal, one of several major irrigation works that also include the Kattakurgan Canal. More than three-quarters of the river's flow occurs between May and September, peaking in July with a rate of 250–690 cubic meters per second. Average flow is 162 cubic meters per second, and the lowest rate is 28–60 cubic meters per second, occurring in March.
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