Editing Amu Darya (section)

==Watershed==
[[File:Bridge.Amu.Darya.Urgench.jpg|thumb|Pontoon Bridge on the Amu River near [[Urgench]], in 2014 it was replaced by the stationary bridge.]]
The {{convert|534769|km2|mi2}} of the Amu Darya [[drainage basin]] include most of Tajikistan, the southwest corner of [[Kyrgyzstan]], the northeast corner of Afghanistan, a narrow portion of eastern Turkmenistan and the western half of Uzbekistan. Part of the Amu Darya basin [[drainage divide|divide]] in Tajikistan forms that country's border with China (in the east) and Pakistan (to the south). About 61% of the drainage lies within Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while 39% is in Afghanistan.<ref name="Basin">{{cite web
|last1=Rakhmatullaev
|first1=Shavkat
|last2=Huneau
|first2=Frédéric
|last3=Jusipbek
|first3=Kazbekov
|last4=Le Coustumer
|first4=Philippe
|last5=Jumanov
|first5=Jamoljon
|last6=El Oifi
|first6=Bouchra
|last7=Motelica-Heino
|first7=Mikael
|last8=Hrkal
|first8=Zbynek
|url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/l250v654l073510h/fulltext.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.springerlink.com/content/l250v654l073510h/fulltext.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live
|title=Groundwater resources use and management in the Amu Darya River Basin (Central Asia)
|work=Environmental Earth Sciences
|access-date=2010-02-09}}{{dead link|date=February 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The abundant water flowing in the Amu Darya comes almost entirely from [[glacier]]s in the [[Pamir Mountains]] and [[Tian Shan]],<ref name="ICWC">{{cite web
|url=http://www.icwc-aral.uz/bwoamu.htm
|title=Basin Water Organization "Amudarya"
|publisher=Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia
|access-date=2010-02-11
|archive-date=2004-06-18
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040618150720/http://www.icwc-aral.uz/bwoamu.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>
which, standing above the surrounding arid plain, collect atmospheric moisture which otherwise would probably escape elsewhere. Without its mountain water sources, the Amu Darya would not exist—because it rarely rains in the lowlands through which most of the river flows. Of the total drainage area, only about {{convert|200000|km2|mi2}} actively contribute water to the river.<ref>{{cite web
|last1=Agaltseva
|first1=N.A.
|last2=Borovikova
|first2=L.N.
|last3=Konovalov
|first3=V.G.
|url=http://iahs.info/redbooks/a239/iahs_239_0193.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://iahs.info/redbooks/a239/iahs_239_0193.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live
|title=Automated system of runoff forecasting for the Amudarya River basin
|publisher=International Association of Hydrological Sciences
|work=Destructive Water: Water-Caused Natural Disasters, their Abatement and Control
|year=1997
|access-date=2010-02-09}}</ref>
This is because many of the river's major tributaries (especially the [[Zeravshan River]]) have been diverted, and much of the river's drainage is arid. Throughout most of the steppe, the annual rainfall is about {{convert|300|mm|in}}.<ref name="Basin"/><ref name="CAWaterInfo">{{cite web
|url=http://www.cawater-info.net/amudarya/geo_e.htm
|title=Amudarya River Basin Morphology
|publisher=Central Asia Water Information
|access-date=2010-02-09
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017160941/http://www.cawater-info.net/amudarya/geo_e.htm
|archive-date=2010-10-17
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>