Syr Darya

The Syr Darya, which is in 2nd place in the list of the longest rivers in Tajikistan, is a river in Central Asia. The name, a Persian derivation, literally means Syr Sea or Syr River, and it is sometimes referred to as such. It runs west and north-west across Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan to the northern remnants of the Aral Sea, beginning in the Tian Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan. It is northern and eastern of the two major rivers in the Aral Sea's endorheic basin, the other being the Amu Darya (Jayhun).

The river begins in two headstreams in the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan—the Naryn River and the Kara Darya, which join in the Uzbek side of the Fergana Valley—and runs west and north-west through Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan to the remains of the Aral Sea. The Syr Darya drains an area of about 800,000 square kilometers (310,000 sq mi), although only 200,000 square kilometers (77,000 sq mi) contribute considerable flow to the river: in fact, two of the basin's main rivers, the Talas and the Chu, dry up before reaching it. Its annual flow is only 37 cubic kilometers per year, which is half that of its sister river, the Amu Darya.

During the Soviet era, huge irrigation projects were built around both rivers, diverting their water into farmland and causing the Aral Sea, once the world's fourth-largest lake, to vanish during the post-Soviet era. Tajikistan's lowest elevation is 300 meters (980 feet) above sea level, where the river flows from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan.

Length: 2,256 km (1,401 mi)