Balochistan is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-east, Punjab to the east and Sindh to the south-east; shares international borders with Iran to the west and Afghanistan to the north; and is bound by the Arabian Sea to the south. Balochistan is an extensive plateau of rough terrain divided into basins by ranges of sufficient heights and ruggedness. It has the world's largest deep sea port, the Port of Gwadar lying in the Arabian Sea.
The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman, also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran, is a gulf that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gulf. It borders Iran and Pakistan on the north, Oman on the south, and the United Arab Emirates on the west.
Makran, also mentioned in some sources as Mecran and Mokrān, is the southern coastal region of Balochistan. It is a semi-desert coastal strip in the Balochistan province in Pakistan and in Iran, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman. It extends westwards, from the Sonmiani Bay to the northwest of Karachi in the east, to the fringes of the region of Bashkardia/Bāšgerd in the southern part of the Sistan and Baluchestan province of modern Iran. Makrān is thus bisected by the modern political boundary between Pakistan and Iran.
A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true igneous volcanoes as they do not produce lava and are not necessarily driven by magmatic activity. Mud volcanoes may range in size from merely 1 or 2 meters high and 1 or 2 meters wide, to 700 meters high and 10 kilometers wide. Smaller mud exudations are sometimes referred to as mud-pots.
Bazman is a dormant stratovolcano in a remote desert region of Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran. A 500-m-wide crater caps the summit of the dominantly andesitic-dacitic volcano, the flanks of which are covered by monogenetic centres especially to the northwest. Bazman is a geologically young volcano which formed mainly in the Quaternary, with the oldest dated rocks being 11.7 million years old and the youngest 0.6 million years. Although no historic eruptions have been reported from Bazman, it does contain fumaroles. Thus Bazman may be regarded as dormant, rather than extinct, volcano. Its satellite cones have been the source of basaltic lava flows.
Taftan is an active stratovolcano in south-eastern Iran in the Sistan and Baluchestan province. With variable heights reported, all around 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain in south-eastern Iran. The nearest city is Khash.
The Hingol mud volcanoes are located in Lasbela District, Balochistan, Pakistan at a distance of around 100 km from Uthal, which is the headquarter of District Lasbela. The mud volcanoes are located in Hingol National Park which is the largest national park in Pakistan. It contains about ten clusters of mud volcanoes, the most important of which are Chandragup and Khandewari volcanoes.
Malan Island, also known as Peer Ghaib, is a mud volcano located in the Arabian Sea, 3 kilometres off the coast of Balochistan province of Pakistan. It rose out of the water overnight in March 1999 and subsided below sea level within a year. It reappeared in 2010.
Jebel e Ghurab is located in Balochistan, Pakistan. It is a mud volcano.
Sokhta Koh is a Harappan site on the Makran coast, near the city of Pasni, in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It was first surveyed by American archaeologist George F. Dales in 1960, while exploring estuaries along the Makran coast. The site is located about 15 miles north of Pasni. A similar site at Sutkagen-dor lies about 48 km (30 mi) inland, astride Dasht River, north of Jiwani. Their position along a coastline goes well with evidence of overseas commerce in Harappan times. Based on pottery styles, it is estimated that the settlement belongs to the Mature Harappan (Integration) Era.
The Sidoarjo mud flow is the result of an erupting mud volcano in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia that has been in eruption since May 2006. It is the biggest mud volcano in the world; responsibility for the disaster was assigned to the blowout of a natural gas well drilled by PT Lapindo Brantas, although company officials contend it was caused by a very distant earthquake that occurred in a different province.
Hinglaj Mata, also known as Hinglaj Devi, Hingula Devi and Nani Mandir, is a Hindu temple in Hinglaj, a town on the Makran coast in the Lasbela district of Balochistan, and is the middle of the Hingol National Park. It is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas in Shaktism denomination of Hinduism. It is one of the three Shakti Peethas in Pakistan, other two being Shivaharkaray and Sharada Peeth. It is a form of Durga or Devi in a mountain cavern on the banks of the Hingol River. Over the last three decades the place has gained increasing popularity and became a unifying point of reference for Pakistan's many Hindu communities. Hinglaj Yatra is the largest Hindu pilgrimage in Pakistan. More than 250,000 people take part in the Hinglaj Yathra during the spring.
Hinglaj is an important Hindu pilgrimage place in Balochistan, Pakistan and Kuldevi of many Rajput, Charan, Rajpurohits and other Hindu Communities of India. It is situated in Balochistan province about 250 km west-northwest of Karachi. The Shri Hinglaj Mata mandir which is the largest Hindu pilgrimage centre in Pakistan is located here.Now the temple is demolished by local government for building coffee house over it.
Kund Malir is a beach in Balochistan, Pakistan located in Hingol National Park. It is located about 150 kilometres (93 mi) from Zero-Point on Makran Coastal Highway. Hingol National Park is the largest national park in Pakistan. It is located 236.8 kilometres (147.1 mi) west of Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan. The drive between Kund Malir and Ormara is known for being scenic, and traverses a rural part of the country. There are estimated to be 11 active mud volcanoes in Kund Malir.
Hingol National Park or Hungol National Park is one of the largest national parks in Pakistan, located in the Makran coastal region. The park covers an area of about 6,100 square kilometres (2,400 sq mi) and is located 190 km from Karachi in the three districts of Gwadar, Lasbela and Awaran in Balochistan. Hingol was declared a national park in 1988.
The 2013 Saravan earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 7.7 at 15:14 pm IRDT (UTC+4:30) on 16 April. The shock struck a mountainous area between the cities of Saravan and Khash in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, close to the border with Pakistan, with a duration of about 25 seconds. The earthquake occurred at an intermediate depth in the Arabian plate lithosphere, near the boundary between the subducting Arabian Plate and the overriding Eurasian Plate at a depth of about 80 km.
The Makran Trench is the physiographic expression of a subduction zone along the northeastern margin of the Gulf of Oman adjacent to the southwestern coast of Balochistan of Pakistan and the southeastern coast of Iran. In this region the oceanic crust of the Arabian Plate is being subducted beneath the continental crust of the Eurasian Plate.
The 2013 Balochistan earthquakes took place in late September in southwestern Pakistan. The mainshock had a moment magnitude of 7.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 825 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. On 28 September, a M6.8 aftershock occurred to the north at a depth of 14.8 kilometres, killing at least 22 people.
Zalzala Koh or Zalzala Jazeera was a small island off the coast of the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan which appeared on 24 September 2013 following an earthquake. As predicted by many geologists, the island soon started to submerge, with satellite images indicating the island had sunk 3 m (10 ft) into the sea one month after its initial appearance. By the end of 2016, the island had disappeared.
Pirgel is a mud volcano in Iran, in the province Sistan and Balochistan close to the town of Khash. The mud volcano is accessible via a foot track.
