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Pakistan hosts four hot deserts [1] which were historically forests. In addition to these, there is also a cold desert in the country. These include the Thar Desert in Sindh, the Cholistan Desert and the Thal Desert in Punjab, the Kharan Desert in Balochistan, [2] and the cold desert Katpana Desert in Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Thar Desert spans an area of 175,000 square kilometers and covers large areas of Pakistan and India. It is the largest desert of Pakistan and the only subtropical desert of Asia. It is the 16th largest desert on the planet and the third largest in Asia. It has also spread into India. The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is a large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 16th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert. 85% of the Thar Desert is in India, and the remaining 15% is in Pakistan. In India, it covers 320,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi), of which 90% is in Rajasthan and extends into Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana. In Pakistan, it spreads over Punjab and Sindh starting from Tharparkar District in the east. This desert consists of a very dry part, the Marusthali region, in the west, and a semi-desert region in the east with fewer sand dunes and slightly more precipitation.
The Cholistan Desert is locally known as "Rohi 'and covers the area of Bahawalpur, Punjab. It adjoins the Thar Desert, extending over to Sindh and into India. Cholistan desert hosts an annual Jeep rally, known as Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally which is the biggest
The Thal Desert is located in Bhakkar District of Pakistan between the Indus and Jhelum rivers. A large canal-building project is currently underway to irrigate the land. Irrigation will make most of the desert suitable for farming. In the north of the Thal Desert there are salt ranges, in the east the Jhelum and Chenab rivers and to the west the Indus River.
The Kharan Desert (Urdu : صحرائے خاران) is a sandy and mountainous desert situated in Balochistan Province in south-western Pakistan.
This desert was the site of Pakistan's second nuclear test, Chagai-II, which was carried out on 30 May 1998.
The Katpana Desert is a high-altitude desert located near Skardu, in Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. The desert contains expanses of large sand dunes that are sometimes covered in snow during winter. Situated at an elevation of 2,226 metres (7,303 ft) above sea level, the Katpana Desert is one of the highest deserts in the world.
The desert technically stretches from the Khaplu Valley to Nubra in Ladakh, but the largest desert area is found in Skardu and Shigar Valley. The portion most visited is located near Skardu Airport.
The Cholistan Desert, also locally known as Rohi, is a desert in the southern part of Punjab, Pakistan that forms part of the Greater Thar Desert, which extends to Sindh province and the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is one of two large deserts in Punjab, the other being the Thal Desert. The name is derived from the Turkic word chol, meaning "sands," and istan, a Persian suffix meaning "land of."
The Indus is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The 3,180 km (1,980 mi) river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, bends sharply to the left after the Nanga Parbat massif, and flows south-by-southwest through Pakistan, before emptying into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi.
The Geography of Pakistan encompasses a wide variety of landscapes varying from plains to deserts, forests, and plateaus ranging from the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean in the south to the mountains of the Karakoram, Hindukush, Himalayas ranges in the north. Pakistan geologically overlaps both with the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates where its Sindh and Punjab provinces lie on the north-western corner of the Indian plate while Balochistan and most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lie within the Eurasian plate which mainly comprises the Iranian Plateau.
The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-largest hot subtropical desert.
Baltistan also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet, is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan and constitutes a northern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. It is located near the Karakoram and borders Gilgit to the west, China's Xinjiang to the north, Indian-administered Ladakh to the southeast, and the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley to the southwest. The average altitude of the region is over 3,350 metres (10,990 ft). Baltistan is largely administered under the Baltistan Division.
Bahawalpur District is a district of Punjab, Pakistan, with capital the city of Bahawalpur. According to the 1998 Census it had a population of 2,433,091, of which 27.01% were urban. Bahawalpur district covers 24,830 km2. Approximately two-thirds of the district (16,000 km2) is covered by the Cholistan Desert, which extends into the Thar Desert of India. The district is a major producer of cotton.
Thar may refer to:
Muhammad Rafiq Mugal is a Pakistani archaeologist, engaged in investigating of ethnoarchaeological research in Chitral, northern Pakistan. He has been responsible for the direction, technical support and supervision for restoration and conservation of more than thirty monuments and excavated remains of the Islamic, Buddhist and Proto-historic periods, in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan. He served as a professor of archaeology and heritage management and the director of undergraduate studies at Boston University. He is now Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Boston University.
The Thal desert is situated at 31°10’ N and 71°30’ E in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Located near the Pothohar Plateau, the area falls under the Indomalayan biogeographic realm and stretches for a length of approximately 190 miles (310 km) with a maximum breadth of 70 miles (119 km). It is bound by the piedmont of the northern Salt Range, the Indus River floodplains in the west and the Jhelum and Chenab rivers' floodplains in the east. It is a subtropical sandy desert that resembles the deserts of Cholistan and Thar geographically.
Tourism in Pakistan is a growing industry. In 2010, Lonely Planet termed Pakistan "tourism's 'next big thing'". The country is geographically and ethnically diverse, and has a number of historical and cultural heritage sites. Condé Nast Traveller ranked Pakistan The Best Holiday Destination for 2020 and also declared it the third-highest potential adventure destination in the world for 2020. As security in the country improves, tourism increases; in two years, it has increased by more than 300%.
The wildlife of Pakistan comprises a diverse flora and fauna in a wide range of habitats from sea level to high elevation areas in the mountains, including 195 mammal, 668 bird species and more than 5000 species of Invertebrates. This diverse composition of the country's fauna is associated with its location in the transitional zone between two major zoogeographical regions, the Palearctic, and the Oriental. The northern regions of Pakistan, which include Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan include portions of two biodiversity hotspot, Mountains of Central Asia and Himalayas.
Pakistan's native fauna reflect its varied climatic zones. The northern Pakistan, which includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan, has portions of two biodiversity hotspots, Mountains of Central Asia and Himalayas.
Pakistan's native flora reflects its varied climatic zones, which range from arid and semi-arid to temperate and tropical.
The forestry sector of Pakistan is a main source of lumber, paper, fuelwood, latex, medicine as well as food and provide ecotourism and wildlife conservation purposes. 5% of Pakistan's land is covered in forest (2024). The Shangla district is the only district of Pakistan that composed of more than 80% of forest land.
Sindh Sagar Doab, sometimes shortened as Sagar Doab, is a tract of land in the Punjab region, lying between the Indus and Jhelum rivers, in present-day Pakistan. It, administratively, covers a huge portion of the western areas of the Punjab province and eastern Hazara Division. It is one of the five major doabs of the Punjab and forms the north western portion of the region, covering the Hazara Hills, Galyat, Pothohar Plateau and Thal Desert.
The topography of Pakistan is divided into seven geographic areas: the northern highlands, the Indus River plain, the desert areas, the Pothohar Plateau, Balochistan Plateau, Salt Range, and the Sistan Basin. All the rivers of Pakistan, i.e. Sindh, Ravi River, Chenab River, Jhelum River, and Sutlej River, originate from the Himalayas mountain range. Some geographers designate Plateau as to the west of the imaginary southwest line; and the Indus Plain lies to the east of that line.
Punjab is the largest province in population and the second largest province in physical size in Pakistan. In 2017, 1.75 million tourists visited Pakistan according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
The Katpana Desert or Katpana Biang-a or Cold Desert is a high-altitude desert located in Skardu Valley in District Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The desert contains large sand dunes that are sometimes covered in snow during the winters. Situated at an elevation of 2,226 metres (7,303 ft) above sea level, the Katpana Cold Desert is one of the highest deserts in the world. While the desert technically stretches from the banks of Indus River in the south of Skardu to New Ranga Village in the north, the portion of the desert that is most frequented by tourists is located near Katpana Lake close to Skardu Airport.
The Indus Basin is the part of Asia drained by the Indus River and its tributaries. The basin covers an area of 1,120,000 km2 (430,000 sq mi) traversing four countries: Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan, with most of the area lying predominantly in the latter two countries.
