Sefid River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-
- This article is about the river in Iran, for the river in northern Afghanistan see Safid River.
| Sefid River (سفيدرود) | |
|---|---|
| Sepid Rud, White River, Rud-e Safid | |
| Country | Iran |
| Provinces | Kordestan, Zanjan, East Azarbaijan, Guilan |
| Major city | Rasht |
| Length | 670 km (416 mi) |
| Source | |
| - location | Zagros Mountains |
| Mouth | Caspian Sea |
| Major tributaries | |
| - right | Qizil Owzan |
The Sefid River, also Sefid Rud (sĕpēd´ rud), sometimes Sepid Rud, (sĕfēd´ rud) or Rud-e Safid, literally White River, is a river, approximately 670 kilometres (416 mi) long, rising in northwestern Iran and flowing generally east to meet the Caspian Sea at Rasht. The river is Iran's second longest river after the Karun.
Sefid Rud has cut a water gap through the Alborz Mountains, the Manjil gap,[1] capturing two headwater tributaries and widening the valley between the Talesh Hills and the main Alborz range. The gap provides a major route between Tehran and Gīlān Province with its Caspian lowlands.[1]
Above Manjil the river was known as Qizil Uzun, literally Long Red River.[2][3] The river is famous for the quantity of its fish, especially the Caspian trout, Salmo trutta caspius[4]
In the wide valley before Sepid Rud enters the Caspian a number of transportation and irrigation canals have been cut; the two biggest are the Khomam and the Now.[5] The river was dammed in 1962 by the Shahbanu Farah Dam[6] (later renamed Manjil Dam) which created a 1.86 km³ (0.45 cu mi) reservoir and allowed the irrigation of an additional 2,380 km² (919 sq mi).[6] The reservoir mediates some flooding and significantly increased rice production in the delta.[7][8] The hydroelectric component of the dam generates 87,000 kilowatts.[6]
[edit] History
The river was known in antiquity with the names Mardus and Amardus.[3] In the Hellanistic period the north side of the Sefid (then Mardus) was occupied by the mountain tribe the Cadusii.[9]
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Fortescue, L. S. (April 1924) "The Western Elburz and Persian Azerbaijan" The Geographical Journal 63(4): pp. 301-315, p.303
- ^ Fortescue, L. S. (April 1924) "The Western Elburz and Persian Azerbaijan" The Geographical Journal 63(4): pp. 301-315, p.310
- ^ a b Rawlinson, H. C. (1840) "Notes on a Journey from Tabríz, Through Persian Kurdistán, to the Ruins of Takhti-Soleïmán, and from Thence by Zenján and Ṭárom, to Gílán, in October and November, 1838; With a Memoir on the Site of the Atropatenian Ecbatana" Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 10: pp. 1-64, p. 64
- ^ "Salmo trutta caspius, Kessler, 1870" Caspian Environment Progamme
- ^ Rabino, H. L. (November 1913) "A Journey in Mazanderan (From Resht to Sari)" The Geographical Journal 42(5): pp. 435-454, p. 435
- ^ a b c Beaumont, Peter (1974) "Water Resource Development in Iran" The Geographical Journal 140(3): pp. 418-431, p.428
- ^ Gittinger, J. Price (October 1967) "Planning and Agricultural Policy in Iran: Program Effects and Indirect Effects" Economic Development and Cultural Change 16(1): pp. 107-117, p. 110
- ^ Carey, Jane Perry Clark and Carey, Andrew Galbraith (1976) "Iranian Agriculture and Its Development: 1952-1973" International Journal of Middle East Studies 7(3): pp. 359-382, p. 372
- ^ Strabo, xi. 13
