Sefid River

::"This article is about the river in Iran, for the river in northern Afghanistan see Safid River."Geobox River
name = Sefid River
native_name = سفيدرود
other_name = Sepid Rud
other_name1 = White River
other_name2 = Rud-e Safid


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country = Iran
state = Kordestan
state1 = Zanjan
state2 = East Azarbaijan
state3 = Guilan
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city = Rasht
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state_type = Provinces
length = 670
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source_location = Zagros Mountains
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mouth_name = Caspian Sea
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tributary_right = Qizil Owzan
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The Sefid River, also Sefid Rud (sĕpēd´ rud), sometimes Sepid Rud, (sĕfēd´ rud) or "Rud-e Safid", literally "White River", is a river, approximately Convert|670|km|mi|0 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,Fortescue, L. S. (April 1924) "The Western Elburz and Persian Azerbaijan" "The Geographical Journal" 63(4): pp. 301-315, p.303 ] 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.

Above Manjil the river was known as Qizil Uzun, literally "Long Red River".Fortescue, L. S. (April 1924) "The Western Elburz and Persian Azerbaijan" "The Geographical Journal" 63(4): pp. 301-315, p.310 ] 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 ] The river is famous for the quantity of its fish, especially the Caspian trout, "Salmo trutta caspius" [ [http://www.caspianenvironment.org/biodb/eng/fishes/Salmo%20trutta%20caspius/main.htm "Salmo trutta caspius, Kessler, 1870" Caspian Environment Progamme] ]

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. [Rabino, H. L. (November 1913) "A Journey in Mazanderan (From Resht to Sari)" "The Geographical Journal" 42(5): pp. 435-454, p. 435] The river was dammed in 1962 by the Shahbanu Farah DamBeaumont, Peter (1974) "Water Resource Development in Iran" "The Geographical Journal" 140(3): pp. 418-431, p.428 ] (later renamed Manjil Dam) which created a Unit cbkm|1.86|2 reservoir and allowed the irrigation of an additional Convert|2380|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on. The reservoir mediates some flooding and significantly increased rice production in the delta. [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 ] The hydroelectric component of the dam generates 87,000 kilowatts.

History

The river was known in antiquity with the names Mardus and Amardus. In the Hellanistic period the north side of the Sefid (then Mardus) was occupied by the mountain tribe the Cadusii. [ [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198;query=chapter%3D%2342;layout=;loc=11.14.1 Strabo, xi. 13] ]

External links

* [http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/mapcenter/map.aspx?TextLatitude=36.5281317189842&TextLongitude=48.3554819461696&TextAltitude=6&TextSelectedEntity=26996&MapStyle=Comprehensive&MapSize=Medium&MapStyleSelectedIndex=0&searchText
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Notes