Muzat River

The Muzart River or Muzat River (Uyghur, Muzat Deryasi) is a river in Aksu Prefecture of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, a left tributary of the Tarim River. An early 20th-century source also gives an alternative name for this river, Shāh-Yār-Daryā. Shāh-Yār-Daryā (‌) is a Persian word meaning 'The King's aide River.' The Muzart River starts in the Muzart Glacier in the Tian Shan Mountains, not too far from the Khan Tengri Peak, and flows toward the southeast and east through Baicheng County, in the valley between the main range of the Tian Shan and the Queletage Mountains to the south. Most of Baicheng County's population lives in the valley irrigated by this river. As the river flows east, toward Kucha, it crosses the Queletage Range in a steep valley. Cut into the northern walls of the valley are 230 caves and grottos, forming the Kizil Caves archaeological site. The river has been dammed at 41°44′45″N 82°26′40″E, a short distance upstream of the Kizil site, forming a large man-made lake known as the Kizil Reservoir (simplified, traditional, pinyin: Kèzī'ěr shuǐkù). With the surface area of 50,000 m², the reservoir has been described as "the largest swimming pool" in southern Xinjiang. However, its construction may have destroyed the possibility of future archaeologi

Flows through: People's Republic of China.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.