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Little Zab

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river in Iran and Iraq

Key facts

Country
Iran , Iraq
Location
Zagros Mountains , Iran
Elevation
3,000 m (9,800 ft)approx.
Length
400 km (250 mi)approx.
Basin size
22,000 km (8,500 sq mi)approx.
Average
197.8 m /s (6,990 cu ft/s)
Maximum
3,420 m /s (121,000 cu ft/s)
Left
Baneh , Qala Chulan, Rubar-i-Basalam

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
river
Country
Iraq
Continent
Asia
Image
طبیعت بهاری - panoramio.jpg
Length
456
Show 9 more facts
described by source
Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia
Commons category
Little Zab
mouth of the watercourse
Lake Dukan
lake on watercourse
Lake Dukan
watershed area
19400
discharge
219
origin of the watercourse
Zagros Mountains
basin country
Iran
native label
زێی بچووک
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~15 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The Little Zab or Lower Zab (Arabic: الزاب الاسفل, al-Zāb al-Asfal; Kurdish: Zêy Koya or Zêyê Biçûk; Persian: زاب کوچک, Zâb-e Kuchak; Syriac: ܙܒܐ ܬܚܬܝܐ, Zāba Taḥtāya) is a river that originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in Iraq. The Little Zab is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) long and drains an area of about 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi). The river is fed by rainfall and snowmelt, resulting in a peak discharge in the spring and low water in the summer and early fall. Two dams built on the Little Zab regulate the river flow, providing water for irrigation and generating hydroelectricity.

The Zagros Mountains have been populated since at least the Lower Palaeolithic, but the earliest archaeological site in the Little Zab basin, Barda Balka, dates to the Middle Palaeolithic. Human occupation of the Little Zab basin has been attested for every period since then.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Little Zab” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

On the map