Samur (river)

Samur
سمور
Samur; سمور
	Location within Republic of Dagestan Location within Azerbaijan Location within Caucasus Mountains
Native name	Самыр (Rutul)
Location
Countries	Russia and Azerbaijan
Region	Caucasus
Districts	Dagestan; Qusar; Khachmaz;
City	Samurçay
Physical characteristics
Source	Main Caucasian Range; Greater Caucasus
• location	Rutulsky District, Dagestan, Russia
• coordinates	41°36′42″N 47°16′56″E / 41.61167°N 47.28222°E
• elevation	3,648 m (11,969 ft)
Mouth	Caspian Sea
• location	Dagestan, Russia
• coordinates	41°54′38″N 48°29′1″E / 41.91056°N 48.48361°E
Length	216 km (134 mi)
Basin size	7,330 km2 (2,830 sq mi)
Discharge
• location	downstream into Tahirçay and Uğar rivers of Azerbaijan and finally directly downstream into Caspian Sea
• average	75 m3/s (2,600 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Khalakhur
• right	Usuxçay

The Samur (Azerbaijani: Самурчај, romanized: Samurçay; Lezgian: Самурвацl; Russian: Самур; Rutul: Самыр) is a river in Russia's Dagestan Republic, also partially flowing through Azerbaijan and forming part of the Azerbaijan–Russia border.^[3]

Overview

The Samur river originates in glaciers and mountain springs of the Greater Caucasus mountains. It rises in the northeastern part of Guton Mount at an elevation of 3,648 m (11,969 ft). Descending from the mountains for 7 km (4.3 mi), the river receives its tributary the Khalakhur River, flowing down from an elevation of 3,730 m (12,240 ft).^[2]^[4] The length of the river is 216 km (134 mi), its basin 5,000 km² (1,900 sq mi). The elevated and midsections of the river from through the territory of Russia, lower sections flow through Azerbaijan, making up the Russian-Azerbaijani border. After joining its other tributary Usuxçay River, the width of the river grows. Once the river is in the open Caspian basin, it splits some of its parts into the Tahirçay (34 km (21 mi)) and Uğar (28 km (17 mi)) rivers on Azerbaijani territory. The river mainly feeds on rain and underground waters with its volume broken up as follows: 42% from rain, 32% from underground waters, 22% from snow, 4% from glaciers.^[1] The river supplies irrigation water to the Samur-Absheron channel, which follows south to Jeyranbatan reservoir.^[5]