YARKAND RIVER

Yarkand also spelled Yarkant, Chinese (Wade-Giles) Yeh-erh-ch'iang Ho, or (Pinyin) Ye'erqiang He, a headstream of the Tarim River in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, in extreme western China. The Yarkand, which is 600 miles (970 km) long, rises in the Karakoram Pass of the Karakoram Range of northern Kashmir. In its upper course it forms a small part of the border between Kashmir and Sinkiang as it cuts a deeply incised valley through the ranges of the Kunlun Mountains. Upon emerging from the Kunlun Gorges, the northeastward-flowing Yarkand loses the character of a raging mountain torrent and spreads out in many branches over an alluvial fan to irrigate the Yarkand oasis. The oasis is one of the largest in Sinkiang and contains the town of Yarkand. Upon leaving the oasis, the river flows northeastward around the eastern margins of the Takla Makan Desert. South of A-k'o-su (Aksu) oasis it joins the Kashgar (K'a-shih), A-k'o-su, and Ho-t'ien (Khotan) rivers to form the Tarim River. Unlike other headstreams of the Tarim River, the Yarkand carries water year-round and is regarded as the main source stream of the Tarim. The Yarkand derives most of its water from melting snow and glaciers in the Karakoram and Kunlun mountain systems. Its volume is therefore greatest in the summer and lowest in the winter. Most of its water is used for irrigation or is absorbed by desert sands.