O-Level Geography Chapter 1 Topography of Pakistan Mountains

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Northern Mountains

The Northern Mountains are divided into three main mountain ranges;

The Karakoram,

• Average Altitude : 6000m
• Highest peak : K2 (8610m)
• Lifestyle :Nomadic agriculture and lifestock is practiced
• Products:Apples Barly millets
• Valleys : Gilgit Hunza Baltistan

Himalayas

• Average altitude:4000m lesser or lower Himalyas
• Highest peak :Naanga parbat (8126m)
• Lifestyle :Nomadic
• Economic activity : Tourism/ agriculture and lifestock is practiced
• Important locations :Murree Nathya Gali Ghora Gali
• VALLEYS : Murri gullies and Naran Kaghan

The Hindu Kush.

• Average Altitude: 5000m
• Highest peak :Tirich Mir (7690m)
• Historical Importance: Alexander Timurlane Mughals Ghazni and Ghauris passed it to
• attack India
• Important locations :Swat Kohistan Chitral Dir
• Products: Rice apples apricots tobacco
• Valleys: Swat Chitral Dir

These three have a dominating physical presence in the northern areas of Pakistan Topography The Karakoram runs from South East to North-West. They have an average height of 6000m. The Himalayas run from South-East to North-West and have an average height of 4000m. The Hindu Kush runs from North East to South West with an average height of 5000m.

Physical features

These mountain ranges have deep narrow valleys such as Gilgit and Chitral.

• Mountains are snow capped (like K2) and have steep sided slopes
• The peaks are conically shaped;
• their altitude increases as we move from South towards the North. 6000m upto 8500m
• These ranges have fast flowing rivers like the River Gilgit, which has formed alluvial fans and deep narrow gorges
• massive glaciers like Baltoro Batura and Siachen (The soil cover on slopes is extremely thin; the mountains have bare rocks, which support little plant growth above snowline).
• These rocks usually undergo the process of weathering (by wind, water and lichens etc), which gradually break down the rock into small soil particles over a long time.

Drainage features

• Indus starts from Manasarover lake in karakoram range moving towards south joins river Kabul at Attock and enters plain of Punjab at kalabagh.
• The Southern slopes of the Himalayas are drained by Eastern tributaries of the River Indus; Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Beas.
• All of these Rivers run in North-East to South West direction.
• Snowfields are found in areas which are above 4000m and feeds the rivers in summers

Western Mountains

This region consists of the mountain ranges, namely; the Waziristan hills, the Safed Koh range, the Sulaiman range and the Kirthar range (shown on next page) Topography

Highly mineralized zone

• All of these ranges run in the North-South direction except the Safed Koh, which runs from East to West.
• The Safed Koh mountain range is the only range, which has some existing snow capped peaks. Other ranges are quite dry.
• These mountains generally have bare rocks due to low rainfall and in some cases very high temperatures (which leads to high rate of evaporation).
• These mountain ranges have steep sided peaks along with deep narrow valleys and gorges.

Drainage

• The Safed Koh range is drained by River Kabul, which runs in an West to East direction and eventually joins River Indus The Waziristan hills are drained by small seasonal rivers like Kurram, Tochi and Gomal.
• These rivers run from West to East, and all are the Western tributaries of the River Indus The Sulaiman range is drained by small hill torrents and small seasonal rivers such as the Bolan and Mula.
• These rivers usually lead to small inland lakes, where the water collects and then dries up (for example the lake Damas) The rain falling on Eastern slopes of Sulaiman range runs down the slopes and falls into piedmont plains leading to the formation of alluvial fans.
• The Kirthar range on the other hand is drained by the River Hab (seasonal river), which flows in a North to South direction and eventually joins the Arabian Sea.