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.
Lowest point: Sea level
Highest point: K2 (Mt. Godwin-Austen) 8,611 m [1]
In the north, northeast and north-west of Pakistan there are three ranges of mountains. Between these ranges of the Himalayas is an area the people of Central and South Asia consider to be the roof of the world. The Himalayas stretch continuously for about 2500 km from east to west. They are bounded to the north-west by the Hindu Kush mountain range and to the north by the Karakoram. Thus there are three mountain ranges in northern Pakistan: Karakoram, Himalayas and Hindu Kush. The contrast between these ranges is geologically interesting.
Land between two rivers is called DOAB in the local language.[ i.e. which? ] The name Indus comes from the Sanskrit word "sindhu", meaning "ocean", from which also come the words Sindh, Hindu, and India. The Indus River, one of the great rivers of the world, rises in southwestern Tibet, only about 160 kilometers west of the source of the Sutlej River, which joins the Indus in Punjab, and the Brahmaputra, which runs eastward before turning southwest and flowing through Bangladesh. The catchment area of the Indus is estimated at almost 1 million square kilometers, and all of Pakistan's major rivers (the Kabul River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej) flow into it. The Indus River basin is a large, fertile alluvial plain formed by silt from the Indus. This area has been inhabited by agricultural civilizations for at least 5,000 years.
The upper Indus Basin includes Punjab; the lower Indus Basin begins at the Panjnad River (the confluence of the eastern tributaries of the Indus) and extends south to the coast. Punjab means the "land of five waters": the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers. [2] The Sutlej river, however, is mostly on the Indian side of the border.
In the southern part of the province of Punjab, the British attempted to harness the irrigation power of the water over 100 years ago when they established what came to be known as the Canal Colonies. The irrigation project, which facilitated the emergence of intensive cultivation despite semi-arid conditions, resulted in important social and political transformations.
Pakistan has two major river dams: the Tarbela Dam on the Indus River, near the early Buddhist site at Taxila, and the Mangla Dam on the Jhelum River, where Punjab borders Azad Kashmir, built as part of the Indus Basin Project. [2] The Warsak Dam on the Kabul River near Peshawar is smaller. These dams, along with a series of headworks and barrages built by the British and expanded since the independence of Pakistan in 1947, are of vital importance to the national economy and played an important role in calming the raging floodwaters of 1992, which devastated large areas in the northern highlands and the Punjab plains.
The Cholistan desert spans an area of 16,000 square kilometers. The name "Cholistan" is derived from the Turkish word "chol," meaning "desert," though the desert is locally known as Rohi. The desert hosts an annual jeep rally, which draws many tourists.
The Indus Valley Desert is located in the northern area of Pakistan. The desert spans an area of 19500 square kilometers and is surrounded by northwestern scrub forests. The Indus Valley Desert lies between two major rivers in the region, the Chenab and the Indus.
The Kharan Desert is located in Northeast Balochistan (a Pakistani state). The desert was used for nuclear testing by the Pakistan military, making it the most famous of the five deserts. The desert is in the center of a large empty basin.
The Thal Desert is located in northeastern 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.
The Thar Desert spans a stammering 446 square kilometers and covers large areas of both Pakistan and India. It is the seventeenth largest desert on the planet and the third largest in Asia.
Tilla Jogian, second highest peak in Potwar The Potwar Plateau (also Potowar or Potohar) is a plateau in the province of Punjab, Pakistan and the western parts of Pakistan administered Kashmir. The area was the home of the Soanian Culture, which is evidenced by the discovery of fossils, tools, coins, and remains of ancient archaeological sites. The local people speak the Potwari language. Pothohar Plateau is bounded on the east by the Jhelum River, on the west by the Indus River, on the north by the Kala Chitta Range and the Margalla Hills, and on the south by the Salt Range.
The Balochistan plateau is located in the south-west of Pakistan with altitudes mainly ranging from 600 to 3010 metres. This is an extensive area of 347,190 km2 with a number of distinct natural topographical and drainage features that can be identified as follows: ▪ Basins of Northern Balochistan ▪ Basins of Western Balochistan ▪ Mountain ranges ▪ Coastal areas
The Salt Range is a hill system in the Punjab province of Pakistan, deriving its name from its extensive deposits of rock salt. The range extends from the Jhelum River to the Indus, across the northern portion of the Punjab province. The Salt Range contains the great mines of Mayo, Khewra Salt Mine, Warcha and Kalabagh, which yield vast supplies of salt. Coal of a medium quality is also found. It is believed that the Salt Range was founded by the horses of Alexander the Great's army.The average altitude of Potohar platue is 300m-600m
Balochistan is located at the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau and in the border region between Southwest, Central, and South Asia. It is geographically the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, at 347,190 km2 or 134,051 square miles, and composes 48% of the total land area of Pakistan. The population density is very low due to the mountainous terrain and scarcity of water. The southern region is known as Makran. The central region is known as Kalat. [1] The Sulaiman Mountains dominate the northeast corner, and the Bolan Pass is a natural route into Afghanistan towards Kandahar. Much of the province south of the Quetta region is sparse desert terrain with pockets of inhabitable land, mostly near rivers and streams. The largest desert is the Kharan Desert which occupies the most of Kharan District.
This area is subject to frequent seismic disturbances because the tectonic plate under the Indian plate collides with the plate under Eurasia as it continues to move northward and to push the Himalayas ever higher. The region surrounding Quetta is highly prone to earthquakes. A severe quake in 1931 was followed by an even more destructive one in 1935. The small city of Quetta was almost completely destroyed, and the adjacent military cantonment was heavily damaged. At least 20,000 people were killed. Tremors continue in the vicinity of Quetta; the most recent major earthquake occurred in October 2008. In January 1991 a severe earthquake destroyed entire villages in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but far fewer people were killed in the quake than died in 1935. A major earthquake centred in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Kohistan District in 1965 also caused heavy damage.
The Indus is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The 3,120 km (1,940 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 the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lie within the Eurasian plate which mainly comprises the Iranian Plateau.
The Sulaiman Mountains, also known as Kōh-e Sulaymān or Da Kasē Ghrūna, are a north–south extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain system in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They rise to form the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau. They are located in the Kandahar, Zabul and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan, and in Pakistan they extend over the northern part of Balochistan and Waziristan as well as Kurram of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In southwestern Punjab, the mountains extend into the two districts of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, which are located west of the Indus River on the boundary with Balochistan. Bordering the mountains to the east are the plains of the Indus River valley, and to the north are the arid highlands of the Central Hindu Kush whose heights extend up to 3,383 metres (11,099 ft). The total area on which this range spans around 6475 sq. km .Together with the Kirthar Mountains on the border between Balochistan and Sindh, the Sulaiman Mountains form what is known as the Sulaiman-Kirthar geologic province.
The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a 700-thousand km2 (172-million-acre) fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of modern-day northern and eastern India, most of eastern-Pakistan, virtually all of Bangladesh and southern plains of Nepal. Also known as the Indus–Ganga Plain, the region is named after the Indus and the Ganges rivers and encompasses a number of large urban areas. The plain is bounded on the north by the Himalayas, which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the fertile alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. The southern edge of the plain is marked by the Deccan Plateau. On the west rises the Iranian Plateau. Many developed cities like Delhi, Dhaka, Kolkata, Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi are located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
The Ravi River is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region.
The Jhelum River is a river in the northern Indian subcontinent. It originates at Verinag and flows through the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir, into Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir, then the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is the westernmost of the five rivers of the Punjab region, and flows through the Kashmir Valley. It is a tributary of the Chenab River and has a total length of about 725 kilometres (450 mi).
The Chenab River is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul region of Himachal Pradesh, India. The Chenab flows through the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India into the plains of Punjab, Pakistan, before ultimately flowing into the Indus River.
The Satluj River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as Satadru. It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River. The Bhakra Dam is built around the river Sutlej to provide irrigation and other facilities to the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana.
The Panjnad River is a river at the extreme end of the Bahawalpur district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The name Panjnad is derived from Sanskrit words pancha ("five") and nadī́ ("river") which means "five rivers". The Panjnad River is formed by the successive confluence or merger of the five rivers of Punjab: the Jhelum River, the Chenab River, the Ravi River, the Beas River and the Sutlej River.
Dina is a city in Jhelum District of Punjab the province of Pakistan. Dina is one of the oldest towns in Punjab.
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.
The Pothohar Plateau, also known as Pothwar, is a plateau in Punjab, Pakistan, located between the Indus and Jhelum rivers.
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 Western Himalayas refers to the western half of the Himalayas, in northwestern India and northern Pakistan. Four of the five tributaries of the Indus River in Punjab rise in the Western Himalayas; while the fifth, the Sutlej cuts through the range after rising in Tibet.
The Indus Basin Replacement Works, also known as the Indus Basin Settlement Plan, was carried out in Pakistan's Indus Basin Irrigation System, which is one of the world's largest continuous irrigation systems. The replacement works were implemented to provide Pakistan with enough water for irrigation needs following the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan. The treaty gave the rights to three eastern rivers of the Indus Basin to India, and to make up for this loss of water a network of dams and link canals was built to haul water from the western Indus tributaries Jhelum and Chenab to the eastern Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers. The government of Pakistan built the Tarbela Dam and Mangla Dam and a number of barrages now managed by Punjab Irrigation Department under the Indus Basin Replacement Works. Eight inter-river canals were also built between western and eastern rivers. It is due to the connectivity between these rivers that Pakistan's irrigation system is called a contiguous irrigation system.
The Punjab Irrigation Department is a provincial government department responsible for irrigation in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It irrigates 21 million acres (8,500,000 ha) of the agricultural land in the province.
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.
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