Country Iran | Bridges Kiz Bridge | |
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Qizil Üzan (Persian: قزل اوزن / Qezel Owzan, from Azerbaijani Turkish "qızıl üzən" meaning "floating gold") is a river flowing in northwestern and northern Iran.
Contents
Map of Ghezel Ozan River, Iran
It flows through Kurdistan Province, Zanjan Province, East Azerbaijan Province, Ardabil Province, and Gilan Province.
It is one of two tributaries forming the Sefīd-Rūd river, with the Shahrood. The Sefīd-Rūd is a major river and tributary of the Caspian Sea.
Course
The Qizil Üzan headwaters are in the Zagros Mountains, in a region near Divan Darreh in Kurdistan Province. It runs northeastwards through Zanjan County and Tarom County in Zanjan Province, and then eastwards through the Alborz mountain range in Ardabil Province and Gilan Province.
At Rudbar in the southwestern Alborz, it joins the Shah Rud−Shahrood river to form the Sefīd-Rūd river (meaning White River in Persian). Then the Sefīd-Rūd flows northwards in Gilan Province, through the Alborz range to the Caspian Sea.
Nomenclature
Sometimes the Qizil Üzan and the Sefīd-Rūd are considered as one river, and the words "Qizil Üzan" and "Sefīd-Rūd" are used synonymously for the entire river that flows from the Zagros Mountains in Kordestan Province to the Caspian Sea. That definition's full river length is approximately 670 kilometres (420 mi), making it Iran's second longest river after the Karun.