Class 6 Geography Chapter 6 Complete Guide Book — Land Features of Pakistan | PunjabTest.com

Pakistan’s north holds three great ranges: the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush. K2 (8611 m) in the Karakoram is Pakistan’s highest peak and the world’s second highest.

These mountains store snow and glaciers that feed the Indus river system, and they attract climbers and tourists from around the world.

Pakistan's north is a wall of three ranges standing side by side, and each has its own character to remember. The Himalayas run along the east, the Karakoram holds the highest, most rugged peaks in the middle, and the Hindu Kush stands in the west. K2, at 8,611 metres in the Karakoram, is Pakistan's highest peak and the second highest on Earth, after Everest. These mountains are more than a view: they store winter snow and glaciers like a bank, and the meltwater released in summer feeds the Indus river system, which waters the farms of the whole country. That is why climbers come from around the world, but farmers in Punjab and Sindh depend on these peaks even more than climbers do.

The west has the Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges, and the Balochistan Plateau — high, dry and rich in minerals like coal, gas and chromite.

The Khyber, Bolan and Gomal passes cut through these mountains and have carried traders and travellers for centuries.

Turn west and the land changes its mood: drier, barer, and rich underground. The Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges run down the west, and behind them spreads the Balochistan Plateau, high, dry and holding minerals like coal, natural gas and chromite in its rocks. The famous passes cut through these mountains — Khyber, Bolan and Gomal — and a pass is simply the lowest, easiest way through a range, which is why armies, traders and travellers have used these three gaps for centuries. Remember them as doors: without doors, the mountain wall would be closed; with them, people, goods and ideas have always found a way through.

Between the mountains and the sea lies the vast Indus Plain, built by river deposits. Its northern part (Punjab) and southern part (Sindh) grow wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane.

The plain holds Pakistan’s largest cities and farms, watered by the Indus and its tributaries (Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) and by canals.

Between the mountains in the north and the sea in the south lies the land most Pakistanis actually live on: the Indus Plain. It was built grain by grain, as the Indus and its tributaries — Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — flooded over thousands of years and left fine, fertile soil behind. Its northern half is Punjab and its southern half is Sindh, and together they grow the country's wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane. Canals take river water far from the river itself, so fields that would be dry can be farmed. When a question asks why most Pakistanis live here, the answer is a bundle, not one reason: flat land, fertile soil, river water, and roads and cities built on the same flat land.

Pakistan’s main deserts: the Thar (Sindh, hot, sandy, with hardy people and livestock), Cholistan (Punjab, dry, with the Derawar Fort), and Kharan (Balochistan, sandy and rocky).

Desert people adapt: camels for transport, wells and rainwater ponds (tobas), and crops that need little water, like millet.

Pakistan has three main deserts, and a test will often ask you to name all three with their provinces, so learn them as a set. The Thar lies mainly in Sindh, hot and sandy, where hardy people keep livestock and grow what little the rains allow. Cholistan lies in Punjab, dry and wide, marked by the great Derawar Fort standing in the sand. Kharan lies in Balochistan, sandy and rocky, the quietest of the three. Desert life runs on clever saving: camels carry loads where trucks cannot go, wells reach underground water, rain ponds called tobas catch the rare rain, and crops like millet are chosen because they ask for little water. A desert is not empty land; it is land used in a different, careful way.

Pakistan’s coast runs about 1000 km along the Arabian Sea, from the Indus delta to Gwadar. Karachi is the main port; Gwadar is a deep-sea port with growing importance.

The Indus delta’s mangrove forests protect the coast, nurse fish, and shelter birds — but they shrink when river water is reduced.

Pakistan's coast runs about 1,000 kilometres along the Arabian Sea, from the Indus delta in the east to Gwadar in the west. Karachi, the main port, grew where ships could shelter and trade, and it is still the country's busiest harbour. Gwadar, further west, is a deep-sea port, which means even large ships can come close to shore, and its importance is growing. At the eastern end, the Indus delta spreads into the sea, and its mangrove forests do three jobs that are easy to remember: their roots hold the shore against waves, their tangled roots nurse young fish, and their branches shelter birds. Mangroves shrink when less river water reaches the delta, so the health of the coast depends on the river far upstream — another way the country's regions are tied together.