BASINS
The region of mountainous Bayan Ögliy included in this website’s inventory is drained by six systems of rivers and lakes, all rising in the snows and glaciers of Tavan Bogd or at the high ridges marking the boundaries of Mongolia with Russia and China. These systems, comprising an area of 21, 211 sq km, form drainages or basins and may be identified by their principle rivers or lakes: Sogoo Gol, Oigor Gol, Tsagaan Gol, Khoton and Khurgan Nuur, Dayan Nuur, Sagsay Gol, and the largest of all, that of Khovd Gol. Ultimately all these rivers and lakes drain into Khovd Gol, the longest river in western Mongolia.
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Sogoo Gol begins where Oigor Gol joins another small stream in the canyon known as Alkham Khavtsal. The river is fed, also, by Bor-Bugasny Gol from the north and Khatugiin Gol from the south.
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Oigor Gol is formed from the rivers Tsagaan Salaa, Shetya Oigor, Dund Oigor, Ikh Oigor, and Baga Oigor, and by Khar Yamaa, entering from the northwest.
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Tsagaan Gol drains the center of this region, with headwaters in the glaciers and snowfields of Tavan Bogd and the peaks immediately to the south. Its primary tributaries include Tsagaan Salaa, Khar Salaa, and Khatugiin Gol.
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The great lakes Khoton Nuur and Khurgan Nuur drain the mountainous region south of Tavan Bogd and that lying along the Mongolian–Chinese border. Many rivers flow into the lakes from west, south, and north; the largest of these include Tsagaan Us, formed from Rashaan Gol and Postigiin Gol, and Khara Salagiin Gol; Zagast Gol, Ikh and Baga Turgenii Gol, and Sumdairagiin Gol; and Urt Khuiten Gol.
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Dayan Nuur and its adjacent lakes, Sagsag Nuur and Khara Nuur, are fed by several small streams descending from the mountains to the south. The lakes are drained by Khar Chuluut Gol which joins Tsagaan Asgat to form the Godon Gol.
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Sagsay Gol flows north from mountains at the border with China and joins the Khovd in the rocky Sagsay plain. Its principle tributaries include Turgen Gol, Chigirtein Gol, and Khöltsöötiin Gol.
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The Khovd flows north out of Khurgan Nuur. It is enlarged by Godon Gol, Mogoityn Gol, and Bor-Burgas Gol before it reaches the sum center of Tsengel. Beyond the canyon of Bota Moin it is joined by Sogoo Gol and then, to the southeast, by Sagsay Gol. Just after the sum center, Sagsay, the river cuts north and east through another canyon before reaching the main city of the region, Ölgiy. By then the Khovd has left our study area, but its own flow goes much further: north toward Achit Nuur and then sharply south, serving as the boundary between Bayan Ölgiy and Uvs aimags and then continuing through an increasingly dry landscape to its final destination, the land-locked Khar Us Nuur.
