This is alist ofrivers ofAzerbaijan. Thehydrography of Azerbaijan basically belongs to theCaspian Seadrainage basin to which allrivers in Azerbaijan flow to.[1]
The Caspian Sea is anendorheic basin, having no outflows to anocean.[1]
The longest river of the Republic of Azerbaijan is theKur whoseriver source is inTurkey and which flows through theRepublic of Georgia, before it enters Azerbaijan. There it unites with the second longest riverAras whose river source is also inTurkey, and which is on the country's border withIran. The majortributaries of the Kur river are theQanix,Qabirri,Turyan,Agstafa,Shekir,Terter andKhachin rivers. The major tributaries of the Aras river are theArpachay,Nakhchivan,Okhchu,Hekeri andKondelenchay rivers. The largest rivers which are not tributaries of the Kur and Aras rivers are theSamur,Gudyal,Velvele,Vilesh andLenkeran rivers.[2]
Rivers form the principal part of the water systems of Azerbaijan. There are 8,359 rivers of various lengths within Azerbaijan. Of them 8,188 rivers are less than 25 kilometres (16 mi) long. Only 24 rivers are over 100 kilometres (62 mi) long.
The largest rivers that flow through the country are:[2]
The rivers in Azerbaijan can be divided into three groups:[1]
Azerbaijan river systems are changing and evolving under the influence of various physiographic factors:[1] climate, landscape, geological structure, soil and vegetation. The density of the river network increases, then gradually decreases later with higher altitudes. Except for the Talysh region (1.6-2.2 km/km2), the river system density is the highest (1–2 km/km2) at 1,000-2,500 kilometers, while in the area of the Talysh mountains it peaks at 1.6-2.2 km/km2 at 500-1,000 km. The average density of the river system of Azerbaijan is 0.39 km/km2. The density is even lower than 0.05 km/km2 in the plains.
The Kura and Aras are the longest rivers in Azerbaijan. They run through theKur-Araz Lowland. The rivers that directly flow into the Caspian Sea, originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of theGreater Caucasus andTalysh Mountains and run along the Samur-Devechi and Lenkeran lowlands.
The Kura River basin area (86,000 km2) up to the junction with the Aras River is smaller than the Aras water basin (101,937 km2). The river is still called Kura on the junction because the water level of the Kura is twice as high as that of the Aras River.
