Qizil Üzan


Qizil Üzan is a river flowing in northwestern and northern 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 Miyaneh County in East Azarbaijan and then Khalkhal County in Ardabil Province and then Zanjan County and Tarom County in Zanjan Province eastwards through the Alborz mountain range in Gilan Province.
At Rudbar in the southwestern Alborz, it joins the Shah Rud−Shahrood river to form the Sefīd-Rūd river. 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, making it Iran's second longest river after the Karun.