It is the principal river of the Tarim Basin, a desert region of Central Asia between the Tian Shan and Kunlun Mountains.

The river historically terminated at Lop Nur, but today reaches no further than Taitema Lake before drying out.

[1] The Tarim River originates from the Karakoram Mountains and flows into Lop Nur along the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert.

The Qing dynasty's "Map of the Western Regions" called it "Erse Gol", which means "flowing water" in Mongolian.

In the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing dynasty (1819), Xu Song wrote in "The Record of the Waterways of the Western Regions": "The Hui language (Uyghur language) refers to the 'cultivable land' called Tarim, and it is said that the people living in the riverside are farming for their business.

[5] The water source of the Tarim River completely comes from the tributaries originating from the surrounding mountainous areas, and the sediment content is very high.

[3] The main source is the Yarkand River, which originates from the southeastern foot of the Telim Kanli Peak in the Karakoram Mountains.

The main stream winds from west to east along the northern edge of the Tarim Basin at 41 degrees north latitude, and turns eastward to the southeast at 87 degrees east longitude, passing through the eastern part of the Taklimakan Desert, and finally injecting into Lop Nur, with a drainage area of 1.02 million.

Prior to the completion of reservoirs and irrigation works in the mid-20th century, the Tarim's waters eventually reached Lop Nur (now a salt-encrusted lake bed).

The river's waters now drain intermittently into Taitema Lake, which is located about 160 kilometres (99 mi) southwest of Lop Nur.

At the time of Sven Hedin's visit in 1899, tigers were still being hunted and trapped along the rivers of the region and near Lop Nur.

The Tarim River Basin is a corridor-like distribution of the largest primitive Populus euphratica forest in the world.

At present, the Populus euphratica forest belt in the lower reaches is disappearing continuously due to the cut-off of the Tarim River and the decrease of water volume.

The Tarim River flows through the desert area, and the riverbed is generally silt and sandy loam, which is easily washed away.

Wild plants grow densely in the floodplain area, including Populus euphratica, red willows and various pastures.

[10] The water quality at the outflow mountain pass of the four major sources of the Tarim River is grade 1-2, which can meet the requirements of living, agricultural irrigation and fishery.

[10] Some Chinese originally considered the Tarim to be the upper course of the Yellow River[11] but, by the time of the Former Han dynasty (125 BCE–23 CE), it was known that it drains into Lop Nur, a series of salt lakes.