Further downriver, it crosses the eastern Mongolian steppe past Ulaan Ereg and Choibalsan, entering China at 48°3′N 115°36′E / 48.050°N 115.600°E / 48.050; 115.600 and emptying into Hulun Nuur after another 164 kilometres or 102 miles.

[3] In years with high precipitation, the normally exitless Hulun Lake may overflow at its northern shore, and the water will meet the Ergune River after about 30 kilometres or 19 miles.

Near the city of Choibalsan in the Dornod province (far Northeast Mongolia), the Kherlen river feeds several soda lakes,[4] located (geologically) in the north Kerulen Block[a] of the Central Mongolian Fold System.

[11] The Kherlen River is the regional discharge point and also represents a hydrogeological divide for the shallow unconfined aquifer, as groundwater flows south along the topographic gradient.

However, approximately 100 km north of the lakes, there are several deposits of uraninite (pitchblende) / coffinite assemblages[c] within conglomerates and sandstones.

[18] The Khuduu Aral, a 30 kilometre long and 20 km wide plain on the Kherlen river, is home to Genghis Khan's Ikh Aurag (palace).