Ruo Shui

Ruo Shui (Chinese: 弱水, literally: "weak river", also Etsin Gol or Ruo He or Ejin River) is a major river system of northern China. It flows approximately 630 kilometres (390 mi) from its headwaters on the northern Gansu side of the Qilian Mountains north-northeast into the endorheic Ejin Basin in the Gobi Desert. The river forms one of the largest inland deltas or alluvial fans in the world. Its drainage basin covers about 78,600 square kilometres (30,300 sq mi) in parts of the Chinese provinces of Gansu and Inner Mongolia.

Geography

The river rises as the Heishui (黑水, black river) on the north slopes of the Qilian Mountains roughly 75 kilometres (47 mi) southeast of Minle. It flows north then northwest past Zhangye, picking up several tributaries from the south. For the first 150 kilometres (93 mi) its water is used to irrigate fields along its valley. It then turns north-northeast, flowing out into the desert, and becoming a losing stream as its water sinks into the surrounding earth. This quality is what gives the river its name, as it greatly lessens the flow and even causes it to dry up in some years. From the turn it runs about 175 kilometres (109 mi) in that direction onto a vast alluvial plain formed by the river's sediment deposits. This part of the river is also known as the Etsin Gol or Etsin River. At Ximiao, the river splits into two ephemeral distributaries called the Dong He (東河, eastern river) and the Xi He (西河, western river), each about 220 kilometres (140 mi) long, draining into the Juyan Lake Basin. The Dong empties into a lake called Sogo Nur, while the Xi river empties into a seasonal basin called the Gaxun Nur.